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THE 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  PULPIT 


A  COLLECTION  OF 


©tiginal  QtxmonB 


FROM 


LIVING  MINISTERS  OF  THE  M.  E.  CHURCH, 

COLLECTED  AND  REVISED 

BY  KEV.  DAVIS  W.  CLAEK,  A.  M. 


GEORGE   PECK,   EDITOR. 

PUBLISHED  BY  LANE  &  TIPPETT, 

FOR  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  200  MULBERRY-STREET. 
JOSEPH   LONGKINQ,   PRINTER. 

1848. 


^ 


THE  KSW  Y^F.K 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


LENOX  AHt 
T«.DtN  fOUNOATI&Hl. 

i9oe 


"  Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1847,  by 
G.  Lane  &  C.  B.  Tippett,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District 
Court,  of  the  Southern  Distiict  of  New-York." 


PREFACE 


The  collection  of  this  volume  of  sermons,  from 

living  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 

was  undertaken  with  the  approval- and  co-operation 

of  several  brethren  eminent  for  their  piety  and  wis- 

^^    dom,  as  well   as  for  their  official  standing  in  the 

r    church.     It  was  hoped  that  the  enterprise,  if  success- 

'^     ful,  would  result  in  an  addition  of  some  value  to  an 

0   important  department  of  our  church  literature.     Our 

[      preaching,  from  the  origin  of  Methodism,  having 

h     been  for  the  most  part  extemporaneous,  few  preach- 

^^ers  have  written  and  preserved  manuscript  sermons 

fc      enough   to  form   a  volume.      Even   many  of  our 

^     most  eminent  divines  and  pulpit  orators  have  left 

^  nothing  behind  them  except  the  remembrance  of 

their  living  efforts,  and  the  results  those  efforts  are 

continuing  to  produce.     Hence  the  limited  number 

of  contributions  that  have  been  made  to  this  branch 

?**  of  our  literature. 

We  refer,  indeed,  with  just  pride,  to  the  sermons 

of  Wesley,  Watson,  and  Clarke.     The  first  distin- 

>     guished  for  simple,  clear,  and  strong  exhibition  of 

doctrinal  and   practical   truth :    the  second  for  the 

classic  beauty  of  his  style,  the  aptness  of  his  illus- 

^     trations,  and  the  clearness  with  which  he  perceived, 


PREFACE. 


and  the  power  with  which  he  defended,  gospel 
truth  :  the  last  for  the  keenness  of  his  criticism,  and 
the  exactness  of  his  presentation  of  the  different 
features  of  his  subject.  And  yet  it  cannot  be  possi- 
ble that  within  so  limited  a  range  of  authors,  great 
as  may  be  their  excellences,  the  various  tastes  of  all 
should  be  suited,  and  the  wants  of  all  be  supplied. 
Hence  we  find  the  shelves  of  not  only  our  ministers, 
but  also  of  our  members,  piled  up  with  sermons  that 
have  originated  without  the  pale  of  our  own  church, 
and  many  of  them  presenting  and  advocating  doc- 
trines opposed  to  the  very  fundamental  principles  of 
our  theology.  Of  the  fact  that  our  people  seek  books 
abroad,  when  they  cannot  find  a  reasonable  supply 
at  home,  we  do  not  complain  ;  but  we  could  desire 
the  enlargement  of  the  home  supply,  that  the  neces- 
sity for  going  abroad  may  be  less  urgent,  and  then 
the  instances  of  it  wiH  be  less  frequent. 

This  collection  has  the  advantage  of  a  great 
variety  in  style  and  mode  of  presenting  and  illus- 
trating truth,  such  as  is  not  to  be  found  in  a  volume 
produced  by  the  labor  of  one  individual.  We  may 
also  add,  without  attempting  to  forestall  any  judg- 
ment upon  the  character  of  the  individual  sermons, 
that  when  a  minister  sits  down  to  the  production  of 
one  sermon  for  such  an  object,  it  may  fairly  be  pre- 
sumed that  he  devotes  to  it  more  thought,  more 
labor,  and  more  time,  than  it  would  be  possible  for 
him  to  devote  to  each,  were  he  writing  a  volume  of 
sermons  himself. 

We  believe  we  have  not  overrated  the  importance 
M  this  mode  of  teaching  and  perpetuating  truth.  To 
the  preacher,  well-written  sermons  not  only  impart 


knowledge,  but  furnish  models  for  the  improvement 
of  style,  for  the  arrangement  and  illustration  of  sub- 
jects,  as  well  as  for  their  general  discussion.  We 
once  heard  a  preacher  boast,  as  though  it  were  a 
thing  commendable,  that  he  never  read  sermons ; 
and  an  involuntary  sigh  escaped  us,  as  the  boast 
called  to  mind  the  sad  corroboration  it  had  in  his 
pulpit  performances.  He  that  would  excel  in  the 
arts,  studies  the  productions  of  artists ;  he  that  would 
excel  in  logic,  logical  discussions;  and  he  that 
would  excel  in  pleading,  the  lawyer's  plea.  So  be 
that  would  excel  as  a  Christian  minister  should  plao^ 
before  him,  and  profoundly  study,  the  distinguished 
models  of  his  profession. 

We  commend  also  this  volume  to  private  indi- 
viduals and  families.  We  deprecate  that  spirit,  too 
characteristic  of  the  age,  and,  alas!  too  prevalent  in 
the  church,  that  demands  continually  light  reading ; 
reading  that  requires  no  effort  of  mind,  and  only 
delights  the  fancy  at  the  same  time  that  it  enervates 
the  understanding.  We  hail  with  joy  every  indica- 
tion of  a  return  of  the  taste  and  spirit  of  the  age 
from  this  temporary  aberration. 

An  apology  is  perhaps  due  for  the  tardy  appear- 
ance of  the  volume.  Most  of  the  matter  was  in  hand 
over  a  year  and  a  half  ago ;  but  the  whole  had  to  pass 
under  the  scrutiny  of  the  several  editors  made  re- 
sponsible by  the  General  Conference  ;  and,  perhaps, 
in  that  respect,  the  present  volume  has  claimed  and 
received  at  their  hands  an  unusual  amount  of  atten- 
tion. And  again :  application  had  been  made  to 
individuals  in  every  conference  of  our  connection, 
and  various  circumstances  retarded  our  communica- 


6  PREFACE. 

tion ;  some,  who  furnished  sermons,  were  delayed  by 
other  and  more  imperious  duties ;  and  others,  who 
had  promised  a  contribution,  in  the  end  failed  to  fur- 
nish it.  To  overcome  all  these  difficulties,  and  to 
bestow  upon  the  work  the  amount  of  labor  neces- 
sary, required  time  ;  but  those  whose  sermons  have 
been  so  long  waiting  to  see  the  light,  and  the  public 
who  have  had  reason  to  expect  the  volume  before 
this,  may  be  assured  that  on  our  part  there  has  been 
no  unnecessary  delay.  Some  names  do  not  appear 
here  that  could  have  been  desired;  but  all  such 
names  of  course  cannot  be  gathered  into  one  volume, 
and  we  may  be  more  successful  in  a  second  appli- 
cation, if  the  reception  of  this  volume  by  the  public 
should  warrant  the  collection  of  another. 

With  these  remarks  we  commend  the  volume  to 
the  favor  of  the  church,  and  to  the  blessing  of  God. 

D.  W.  Clark. 
New-York,  October,  1847. 

P.  S.  To  the  authors  we  were  not  able  to  furnish 
proofs  of  their  respective  sermons,  on  account  of  their 
being  so  widely  scattered,  and  the  delay  and  derange- 
ment that  would  have  been  occasioned  in  the  print- 
ing department.  Every  effort  has,  however,  been 
made  to  secure  accuracy. 


CONTENTS. 


PAQH 

Sermon  I.   The  Influence  on  the  Human  Mind  of  the 

Manifestation  of  God^s  Glory.    By  Rev.  Matthew 

Simpson,  D.  D.,  of  the  Indiana  Conference  ...     13 

And  he  said,  I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory.  And  he 
said,  I  will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee,  and  I  will 
proclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  before  thee;  and  I  will  be 
gracious  to  whom  I  will  be  gracious,  and  will  show  mercy  on 
whom  I  will  show  mercy.  And  he  said.  Thou  canst  not  see 
my  face ;  for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and  live. — Exodus 
xxxiii,  18-20. 

Sermon  II.  The  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
By  Rev.  Stephen  M.  Vail,  A.  M.,  of  the  New- 
Jersey  Conference 33 

All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God. — 2  Tim.  iii,  16. 

Sermon  III.  Origin,  Nature,  Condition,  and  Destina- 
tion of  Man.     By  Rev.  Homer  J.  Clarke,  D.  D., 

of  the  Pittsburgh  Conference 43 

What  is  man  1 — Psa.  viii,  4. 

Sermon  IV.  Death — the  Wages  of  Sin.     By  Rev.  D. 
W.  Clark,  A.  M.,  of  the  New- York  Conference  .     56 
The  wages  of  sin  is  death. — Rom.  vi,  23. 

Sermon  V.  Salvation — Mysterious  and  Glorious. 
By  Rev.  James  Floy,  D.  D.,  of  the  New- York 
Conference 72 

Which  things  the  angels  desire  to  look  into. — 1  Peter  i,  12. 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sermon  VI.  Talent.   By  Rev.  Jesse  T.  Peck,  D.  D., 

of  the  Troy  Conference 84 

For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  a  man  traveling  into  a  far 
countiy,  who  called  his  own  servants,  and  delivered  unto  them 
his  goods.  And  unto  one  he  gave  five  talents,  to  another  two, 
and  to  another  one;  to  every  man  according  to  his  several 
abiUty;  and  straightway  took  his  journey.  Then  he  that  had 
received  the  five  talents  went  and  traded  with  the  same,  and 
made  them  other  five  talents.  And  likewise  he  that  had  re- 
ceived two,  he  also  gained  other  two.  But  he  that  had  received 
one  went  and  digged  in  the  earth,  and  hid  his  lord's  money. 
After  a  long  time  the  lord  of  those  servants  cometh,  and 
reckoneth  with  them,  &c. — Matthew  xxv,  14-30. 

Sermon  VII.  The  Duty  of  Submission  to  God.  By 
Rev.  William  Hunter,  of  the  Pittsburgh  Con- 
ference  107 

Submit  yourselves,  therefore,  to  God. — James  iv,  7. 

Sermon   Vin.     Consecration   to    God.      By   Rev. 

Frederick    Merrick,    A.    M.,    of    the    Ohio 

Conference 120 

I  beseech  you  therefore,  brethi*en,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  that 
ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto 
God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service. — Romans  xii,  1. 

Sermon  IX.  Christian  Perfection.  By  Rev.  Noah 
Levings,  D.  D.,  of  the  New-York  Conference      .  137 

Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is  in 
heaven  is  perfect. — Matthew  v,  48. 

Sermon  X.     The  Present  and  the  Future  State  of 

Believers.     By  Rev.  Z.  Paddock,  D.  D.,  of  the 

Oneida  Conference 155 

For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  For  in  this  we  gx'oan,  earnestly 
desiring  to  be  clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from 
heaven:  if  so  be,  that  being  clothed,  we  shall  not  be  found 
naked.  For  we  that  are  in  this  tabernacle  do  groan,  being 
burdened;  not  for  that  we  would  be  unclothed,  but  clothed 
upon,  that  mortality  might  be  swallowed  up  of  life. — 2  Cor. 
V,  1-4. 


CONTENTS.  9 

PAa£ 
Sermon  XI.    Prayer — Outline  of  an  ArgumerU  for 

its  Institution.     By  Rev.  Abel  Stevens,  A.  M., 

of  the  Providence  Conference 172 

Thus  saith  the  Lord  God :  I  will  yet  for  this  be  inquired  of  by 
the  house  of  Israel,  to  do  it  for  them. — Ezek.  xxxvi,  37. 

Sermon  XII.  Drawing  near  to  God.    By  Rev.  T.  A. 

Morris,  D.  D.,  one  of  the  Bishops  of  the  M.  E. 

Church 185 

Let  us  draw  near  with  a  true  heart,  in  full  assurance  of  faith, 
having  our  heai-ts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience,  and  our 
bodies  washed  with  pure  water. — Heb.  x,  22. 

Sermon  XIII.  Divine  Providence.  By  Rev.  Chas. 
K.  True,  A.  M.,  of  the  New-England  Conference    193 

The  angel  of  the  Lord  encampetli  round  about  them  that  fear 
him,  and  delivereth  them. — Psalm  xxxiv,  7. 

Sermon  XIV.  The  Good  and  Faithful  Servant.  By 
Rev.  O.  C.  Baker,  A.  M.,  of  the  New-Hampshire 
Conference 203 

His  lord  said  unto  him,  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  ser- 
vant: thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make 
thee  ruler  over  many  things  ?  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
lord. — Matthew  xxv.  21, 

Sermon  XV.  The  Divinity  of  Christianity  demon- 
strated in  the  Conversion  of  St.  Paid.  By  Rev. 
John  H.  Power,  of  the  North  Ohio  Conference  .  212 

And  he,  trembling  and  astonished,  said.  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
me  to  do  ?  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  Arise,  and  go  into  the 
city,  and  it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do. — Acts  ix,  6. 

Sermon  XVI.  The  Great  Salvation  by  Jesus  Christ. 
By  Rev.  Samuel  Luckey,  D,  D.,  of  the  Genesee 
Conference 231 

Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  eanaest  heed  to  the  things 
which  we  have  heard,  lest  at  any  time  we  should  let  them  slip. 
For  if  the  word  spoken  by  angels  was  steadfast,  and  every  trans- 
gression and  disobedience  received  a  just  recompense  of  reward ; 
how  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ? — Heb, 
ii,  1,  2. 


10  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sermon  XVII.  The  Conservative  Power  of  Chris- 
tianity. By  Rev.  A.  M.  Osbon,  of  the  New- 
York  Conference •  249 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth. — Matthew  v,  13. 

Sermon  XVIII.  Love  to  God  and  Man —  Christian 
Union.  By  Rev.  James  V.  Watson,  of  the 
Michigan  Conference 265 

Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and*^  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself.— Luke  x,  27. 

Sermon  XIX.  Christian  Discipline.  By  Rev.  Euas 

Bowen,  D.  D.,  of  the  Oneida  Conference  .  .  .276 
Moreover,  if  thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell 
him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone  :  if  he  shall  hear  thee, 
thou  hast  gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he  will  not  hear  thee,  then 
take  with  thee  one  or  two  more,  that  in  the  mouth  of  two  or 
V  three  witnesses  every  word  may  be  established.  And  if  he  shall 
neglect  to  hear  them  tell  it  unto  the  church :  but  if  he  neglect  to 
hear  the  church,  let  him  be  unto  thee  as  a  heathen  man  and  a 
publican. — Matthew  xviii,  15-17. 

^_^ERMON  XX.    Charity  to  the  Poor.     By  Rev.  Chas. 

Adams,  A.  M.,  of  the  New-England  Conference  292 
Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world :  for  I  was  an  hun- 
gered, and  ye  gave  me  meat :  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me 
drink :  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in :  naked,  and  ye 
clothed  me  :  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me:  I  was  in  prison,  and 
ye  came  unto  me. — Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me. — 
Matthew  xxv,  34-36,  40. 

Sermon  XXI.    The  Existence  of  God.     By  Rev. 

Nelson  Rounds,  A.  M.,  of  the  Oneida  Conference    304 

For  the  invisible  things  of  Him  from  the  creation  of  the  world 
are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made,    . 
even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead,  so  that  they  are  without 
excuse. — Eom.  i,  20. 

■  Sermon  XXII.  The  Reign  of  God  a  Source  of  Joy. 
By  Rev.  Joseph  Cummings,  A.  M.,  of  the  New- 
England  Conference 312 

The  Lord  reigneth ;  let  the  earth  rejoice ;  let  the  multitude  of 
isles  be  glad  thereof. — Psalm  xcvii.  i. 


CONTENTS.  11 


Sermon  XXIII.     Conscience,  as  an  Instrument  of 

Punishment.     By  Rev.  .Freeborn  G.  Hibbard, 

A.  M.,  of  the  Genesee  Conference 325 

And  thou  mourn  at  the  last,  when  thy  flesh  and  thy  body  are 
consumed,  and  say,  How  have  I  hated  instruction,  and  my  heart 
despised  reproof;  and  have  not  obeyed  the  voice  of  my  teachers, 
nor  inclined  mine  ear  to  them  that  instructed  me!  I  was 
almost  in  all  evil  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  and  assem- 
bly.—Prov.  V,  11-14. 

Sermon  XXIV.    Character  and  Work  of  a  Miyiister 

of  Jesus  Christ.    By  Rev.  Nathan  Bangs,  D.  D., 

of  the  New- York  Conference     .     .     .     .     .     .     .342 

Now  then  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though  God  did 
beseech  you  by  us  ;  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  recon- 
ciled to  God.— 2  Cor.  V,  20. 

Sermon  XXV.  The  Office  and  Work  of  a  Christian 
Bishop.  By  Rev.  P.  P.  Sandford,  of  the  New- 
York  Conference 357 

Remember  them  which  have  the  rule  over  you,  who  have  spoken 
unto  you  the  word  of  God ;  whose  faith  follow,  considering  the 
end  of  their  conversation ;  Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday, 
and  to-day,  and  for  ever. — Heb.  xiii,  7,  8. 

Sermon  XXVI.  The  Past  and  the  Future,  as  sur- 
veyed hy  a  Faithful  Minister  of  Christ,  at  the  Hour 
of  Dissolution.  By  Rev.  Israel  Chamberlayne, 
of  the  Genesee  Conference 369 

I  am  now  ready  to  be  oifered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is 
at  hand.     I  have  fought  a  good  fight,!  have  finished  my  course, 
I  have  kept  the  faith;   henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a 
crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  . 
shall  give  me  at  that  day. — 2  Tim.  iv,  6-8. 

Sermon  XXVII.     The  Wesleyan  Reformation.    By 

Rev.  B.  F.  Tefft,  A.  M.,  of  the  North  Indiana 

Conference 393 

I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies,  and  of  all  the 
ti-uth,  M^hich  thou  hast  showed  unto  thy  servant :  for  with  my 
staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan,  and  now  I  am  become  two 
bands. — Gen.  xxxii.  10. 


12  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sermon   XXVIII.     The    Double    Baptism — Reed 

Baptism,     By  Rev.  D.  D.  Whedon,  D.  D.,  of  the 

Michigan  Conference 410 

I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water,  but  he  shall  baptize  you  with 
the  Holy  Ghost. — Mark  i,  8. 

Sermon  XXIX.     The  Double  Baptism — Symbolical 

Baptism.     By  Rev.  D.  D.  Whedon,  D.  D.,  of  the 

Michigan  Conference 422 

I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water,  but  he  shall  baptize  you  with 
the  Holy  Ghost.— Mark  i,  8. 

Sermon  XXX.   The  Resurrection.     By  Rev.  G.  G. 

Hapgood,  a.  M.,  of  the  Black  River  Conference    437 

0  death,  where  is  thy  sting  1  0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  1 
— 1  Cor.  XV,  55. 

Sermon  XXXI.  The  Appearance  of  Evil.  By  Rev. 
George  Peck,  D.  D.,  of  the  New- York  Con- 
ference   451 

Abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil. — 1  Thess.  v,  22. 

Sermon  XXXII.     The  Opportunity  of  doing  Good 

unto  all  Men.     By  Rev.  E.  S.  Janes,  D.  D.,  one 

of  the  Bishops  of  the  M.  E.  Church 469 

As  we  have  therefore  opportunity,  let  us  do  good  unto  all 
men. — Galatians  vi,  10. 

Sermon  XXXIII.     Christ's  first  Sermon  after  his 

Resurrection  ;  or,  Christ  the  Theme  of  the  Prophets. 

By  Rev.  E.  Hedding,  D.  D.,  senior  Bishop  of  the 

M.  E.  Church 485 

And  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  expounded 
unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself. 
— Luke  xxiv,  27. 

Sermon  XXXIY.   The  New  Birth.    By  Rev.  T.  E. 

Bond,  M.  D.,  D.  D.,  Senior  Editor  of  the  Christian 

Advocate  and  Journal 504 

Jesus  answered.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee.  Except  a  man 
be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God. — John  iii,  5. 


SERMONS. 


SERMON  I. 


The  Influence  on  the  Human  Mind  of  the  Manifesta- 
tion of  God's  Glory. 

BY  REV.   MATTHEW   SIMPSON,   D.  D., 

PRESIDENT  OF  INDIANA  ASBURY  UNIVERSITY. 

"  And  he  said,  I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory.  And  he  said,  I 
will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee,  and  I  will  proclaim  the 
name  of  the  Lord  before  thee  j  and  will  be  gracious  to  whom  I  will 
be  gracious,  and  will  show  mercy  on  whom  I  will  show  mercy.  And 
he  said,  Thou  canst  not  see  my  face ;  for  there  shall  no  man  see  me 
and  live." — Exodus  xxxiii,  18-20. 

Correct  views  of  the  divine  character  lie  at  the  found- 
ation of  true  religion.  We  may  not  indeed  understand 
all  the  divine  attributes,  or  even  know  their  number,  but 
with  such  as  most  directly  influence  human  character  and 
conduct  we  may  become  acquainted  through  nature  and 
revelation.  AVhere  nations  have  acknowledged  "  lords 
many  and  gods  many,"  discord  and  war  have  been,  not 
mere  casualities,  but  natural  and  almost  necessary  conse- 
quences of  their  theology.  If  Mars  and  Jupiter,  Juno  and 
Minerva,  had  conflicting  interests  in  heaven,  and  if  fierce 
contests  raged  among  the  gods,  what  else  could  be  expected 
of  their  worshipers  on  earth  ?  As  there  were  "  gods  of  the 
hills  and  gods  of  the  valleys," — as  each  nation  traced  its  or- 
igin through  a  long  line  of  ancestry  to  some  one  of  the  con- 
tending deities, — so  it  might  be  expected  that  each  nation 
should  be  jealous  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  its  founder. 

The  unity  of  the  Deity  revealed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  the  common  origm  of  the  human  family  expressly 
asserted,  sweep  away,  at  once  and  for  ever,  the  greatest 
justification  for  hostilities,  and  all  pretence  for  tyranny 


14  MANIFESTATION  OF  [SER. 

and  oppression.  We  have  but  one  God,  and  we  are  all 
brethren. 

The  attributes  with  which  the  divine  character  is  in- 
vested have  also  a  powerful  influence  on  the  mind.  If  to 
the  Deity  is  ascribed,  as  in  heathen  mythology,  the  pos- 
session of  the  animal  propensities  and  desires,  then  the 
worship  will  be  conformable  to  such  desires,  and  licentious- 
ness and  extravagance  of  every  description  will  be  mingled 
in  the  ceremonies.  The  rolling  wheel  shall  crush  its  vic- 
tim, the  fire  consume  the  infant  offering,  or  purity  be  sac- 
rificed unblu shingly  at  the  altar  of  the  commanding  deity. 

Carrying  forward  the  s^me  train  of  thought,  we  shall 
find  that  even  under  the  full  light  of  the  system  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  peculiar  aspect  in  which  the  divine  character  is 
viewed  will  greatly  modify  Cliristian  conduct  and  enjoy- 
ment. Notwithstanding  all  read  the  same  revelation,  and 
ascribe  the  same  attributes  to  the  Deity,  yet  perhaps  each 
individual  fixes  in  a  different  degree  his  estimate  of  the 
relation  of  these  attributes  to  man ;  and  possibly,  in  each 
mind,  some  one  of  the  divine  attributes  is  more  regarded, 
or  at  least  more  constantly  a  subject  of  thought,  than  any 
other.  Thus,  upon  one  may  rest  a  sense  of  the  terrible 
majesty  of  God.  He  may  seem  to  hear  his  voice  as  when 
it  spake  in  such  awful  grandeur  from  the  top  of  Sinai.  On 
another  may  rest  a  sense  of  awe  and  veneration,  and  the  still 
small  voice  seem  ever  to  sound  in  his  ears,  "  Be  still,  and 
know  that  I  am  God."  To  a  third  is  presented  most 
vividly  the  idea  of  holiness ;  and  to  a  fourth,  the  idea,  the 
triumphant  thought,  is,  "  God  is  love." 

These  various  views  must  greatly  modify  our  mode  of 
approach  before  God.  He  whose  mind  is  filled  with  ideas 
of  terrible  grandeur,  and  stern  majesty,  to  whom  every 
voice  seems  to  proclaim,  "  Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire," 
must,  when  his  soul  is  penitent,  approach  even  in  prayer 
with  overwhelming  awe  ;  while  another,  who  regards  the 
Deity  as  an  affectionate  Father,  though  he  come  confound- 
ed by  a  sense  of  his  guilt,  and  melted  at  the  thought  of  the 
amazing  condescension  of  an  offended  Ruler,  yet,  viewing 
the  extended  arms  of  mercy  expanding  to  meet  the  re- 
turning prodigal,  even  dares  to  "  come  boldly  to  a  throne 
of  grace."  ^ 

Many  of  the   vounor; — and  for  tliem  our    remarks  are 


I.]  THE  DIVINE    GLORY.  15 

made — are  taught,  even  in  the  nursery,  to  clothe  the  Deity 
with  attributes  of  vengeance.  As  they  grow  older  the  idea 
strengthens  in  their  mind — Religion  is  a  fearful  thought — 
moroseness  or  terror  becomes  most  intimately  associated 
with  their  notions  of  Christianity,  and  they  will  not  think 
of  God  because  the  idea  is  one  of  awful  dread.  And  per- 
haps few  passages  in  the  word  of  God  have  been  more 
frequently  used  to  strengthen  this  impression  upon  the 
mind,  than  that  part  of  our  text,  "  For  there  shall  no  man 
see  me  and  live." 

Being  fully  persuaded  that  love  is  the  great  charac- 
teristic of  the  Deity,  as  revealed  through  Christ,  and  that 
all  young  persons  ought  so  to  be  taught,  we  propose  to  in- 
vestigate— 

I.  What  Moses  desired  when  he  prayed,  "I  beseech 
thee  show  me  thy  glory." 

II.  How  far  this  desire  was  satisfied  ;  and, 

III.  Why  he  could  not  obtain  all  that  he  desired. 
I.  First,  then,  let  us  consider  the  desire  of  Moses. 
The  "glory  of  God"  is  used  in  the  sacred  writings  in 

several  distinct  meanings.  Sometimes  it  is  applied  to  an 
exhibition  of  some  grand  or  astonishing  appearance,  indi- 
cating supernatural  power  and  glory — sometimes  to  a  dis- 
play of  the  power,  wisdom,  and  benevolence,  of  the  Deity, 
in  his  works — sometimes  to  his  dispensations  toward  man, 
as  seen  in  the  history  of  individuals — and  sometimes  to 
his  purposes  of  mercy  yet  to  be  revealed.  By  further  ex- 
amination, we  may  see  to  which  one  of  these  the  desire  of 
the  leader  of  Israel  was  directed. 

1.  Did  he  desire  to  behold  some  grand  and  glorious  man- 
ifestation of  the  Deity;  some  outward  form  or  shape  to 
represent  the  great  Jehovah  ?  Why  should  such  be  his 
desire  ?  In  the  first  place,  he  must  have  had  correct  views' 
of  the  Deity — he  must  have  known  that  "  God  is  a  spirit," 
— that  "  no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time" — that  a 
spiritual  being  cannot  be  materially  discerned :  and  that 
though  a  glorious  light,  or  thick  clouds  and  sounds  of  power, 
may  accompany  his  revelations  to  man,  yet  that  light,  or 
those  clouds  or  sounds,  indicate  his  presence,  but  do  not 
represent  his  form  ; — they  exhibit  his  power,  not  his  per- 
son. We  say,  Moses  must  have  known  all  this,  because 
he  was  taught  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  from  his 


16  MANIFESTATION   OF  [SER. 

childhood — tradition  from  Shem  to  Moses  passed  through 
but  few  hands — and  then  he  had  been  taught  of  God. 
Forty  years  had  he  wandered  in  sohtude  ;  a  shepherd's  life 
gave  him  time  and  opportunity  for  divine  communion — for 
deep  and  holy  reflection.  When  thus  prepared,  great  reve- 
lations had  been  given  to  him,  and  he  had  conversed  with 
God  in  the  hallowed  mount  for  forty  days — had  received 
the  immutable  law  for  the  human  family — and  consequent- 
ly must  have  known  much  of  the  divine  character. 

Our  tendency  to  attach  form  to  the  Deity  arises  from 
the  limited  nature  of  our  faculties.  We  are  principally  in- 
fluenced by  external  qualities  ;  we  judge  by  them ;  and 
though  we  know  a  spirit  has  not  the  ordinary  qualities  of 
matter,  yet  we  can  form  no  distinct  conception  without  as- 
sociating some  of  them.  When  we  think  of  an  angel,  or 
the  spirit  of  a  departed  one  whom  we  loved  on  earth, 
though  we  give  no  definite  form,  yet  there  is  a  something 
which  flits  before  the  mind.  It  may  be  a  small  bright 
cloud,  so  greatly  attenuated  as  to  be  scarcely  perceptible — 
a  thin  light  mist — a  floating  vapor — but  still  there  is  form. 
So  in  our  ordinary  conceptions  of  the  Deity,  though  we 
know  he  hath  not  body  and  parts,  yet  we  imagine  some 
appearance.  It  may  be  superlative  brightness  or  terrible 
majesty ;  infinitely  varied  may  be  our  conceptions  as  to 
magnitude,  form,  and  locality  ;  still  there  is  an  appearance. 
And  this,  we  may  casually  remark,  has  ever  been  a  fruit- 
ful source  of  idolatry. 

As  these  views  arise  from  the  imperfection  of  our  facul- 
ties, or  from  our  want  of  knowledge,  we  cannot  properly 
attribute  them  to  one  so  advanced  as  Moses  in  laiowledge, 
both  human  and  divine.  But,  in  the  second  place,  why 
should  he  desire  to  behold  such  external  displays  of  glory 
and  power?  He  had  worshiped  at  the  burning  bush; 
had  been  made  the  messenger  of  God  to  announce  the  most 
astonishing  prodigies  to  the  Egyptians  ;  at  his  word,  the 
Nile  had  flowed  in  currents  of  blood ;  darkness  had  in  its 
most  fearful  form  brooded  over  the  kingdom  ;  and  the  mes- 
senger of  death  had  made  every  family  to  send  forth  a  long, 
loud,  piercing  wail  for  the  first-born.  The  sea  had  divided 
at  his  approach ;  the  divine  presence,  as  a  pillar  of  cloud 
by  day,  and  of  fire  by  night,  had  been  his  guide  and  pro- 
tection ;  and,  lastlv,  he  had  stood  amidst  the  terrific  scenes 


I.]  THE  DIVINE  GLORY.  17 

of  Sinai  until  he  exclaimed,  "  I  do  exceedingly  fear  and 
quake."  What  greater  manifestations  could  he  wish  to 
behold  ?  Surely  these  had  been  enough,  more  than  enough, 
to  satisfy  the  most  enlarged  desire. 

2.  May  he  have  used  the  expression  in  the  sense  of  the 
Psalmist  where  he  says,  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory 
of  God ;"  desiring  to  understand  more  of  creative  power 
and  skill  ?  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  earnestly  de- 
sired to  know  all  that  could  be  known  in  reference  to  the 
great  work  of  creation.  But  probably  he  had,  before  this 
time,  received  by  revelation  the  history  of  the  world's  pro- 
duction. He  had  stood  as  on  some  distant  eminence,  and 
beheld  when  "  He  spake  and  it  was  done ;  he  commanded, 
and  it  stood  fast."  He  had  seen  the  earth  springing  into 
existence,  robed  in  innocence  and  loveliness,  while  "  the 
morning  stars  sang  together,  and  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy."  And  having  received  such  views,  standing  thus 
as  a  witness  to  this  great  fact,  he  could  scarcely  have  asked 
for  further  description. 

3.  Is  it  probable  that  he  desired  to  behold  the  glory  of 
God,  as  manifested  in  his  past  government  of  the  world  ? 
In  this  he  had  already  been  instructed.  He  had  been 
made  the  world's  sole  historian  for  near  two  thousand 
years.  Before  his  mind  had  passed  the  history  of  the  race, 
with  all  its  mutations ; — its  creation  in  innocence  and  ma- 
jesty ;  its  dreadful  fall ;  ejection  from  Paradise  ;  its  stains 
of  sin  upon  the  earth,  too  deep  to  be  effaced  even  by  the  rush 
of  waters  in  the  mighty  deluge.  Not  only  had  he  received 
Abrahamic  traditions  and  all  that  Egyptian  lore  could  fur- 
nish, but  God  himself  had  been  his  great  instructor,  to  show 
to  man,  through  him,  his  "  glory,"  in  the  rise  and  fall  of  em- 
pires, the  elevation  or  degradation  of  the  race. 

4.  Since  then  his  prayer  could  not  refer  to  external  ex- 
hibitions of  the  glory  of  the  Deity,  or  to  his  creative  power, 
or  past  government  of  the  world,  it  only  remains  for  us 
to  turn  toward  the  future.  And  if  we  view  the  circum- 
stances surrounding  him,  we  shall  see  that  by  his  prayer, 
"  I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory,"  he  desired  to  under- 
stand the  merciful  purposes  of  God  toward  the  Israelites, 
and  through  them  to  the  world.  He  anxiously  wished  to 
understand  more  fully  the  whole  plan  of  salvation,  and  to 
see  the  things  that  should  happen  in  the  "  latter  days." 


18  MANIFESTATION   OF  [SEK. 

That  tlie  Almighty  had  great  designs  in  view  in  reference 
to  the  Israelites,  he  had  a  right  to  infer,  from  what  had  al- 
ready been  done  for  them.  As  when  an  architect  collects 
in  one  place  a  vast  quantity  of  materials,  we  have  a  right 
to  expect  the  erection  of  some  magnificent  edifice  ;  so,  from 
previous  and  vast  preparation  on  the  part  of  the  Deity, 
some  event  of  momentous  importance  might  be  inferred. 
Abraham  had  been  called  from  his  native  land  and  from 
among  his  kindred ;  had  traveled  over  Canaan  in  expecta- 
tion that  it  should  be  his,  while  yet  owned  and  inhabited 
by  powerful  nations  ;  his  sons  had  been  trained  under  pe- 
culiar circumstances;  providentially  led  into  Egypt,  and 
then  made  a  race  of  slaves,  oppressed  and  shamefully 
treated ;  then  rescued  amidst  signs  and  wonders  "  with  a 
high  hand  and  an  outstretched  arm,"  while  the  sprinkled 
blood  of  the  slaughtered  lamb  prefigured  a  higher  and  ho- 
lier deliverance  of  humanity  from  a  still  more  accursed 
bondage.  What  connection  this  had  with  the  hope  of  a 
Messiah  who  should  wield  a  sceptre,  and  of  a  Prophet 
who  should  teach  his  people,  he  could  not  fully  see :  and 
what  meant  all  this  vast  display  in  the  wilderness  ;  this 
heavenly  direction ;  this  manna  from  on  high ;  the  tables 
of  the  law  ;  the  tabernacle  with  its  symbols  and  ceremo- 
nies, he  could  not  fully  comprehend,  but  in  the  earnest- 
ness of  his  soul,  he  prayed,  "  I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy 
glory." 

Again,  the  circumstances  through  which  he  had  just 
passed  were  of  a  most  singular  character.  He  had  been 
upon  the  sacred  mount.  Israel  had  said,  "  Let  not  God 
speak  with  us  ;"  and  Moses  had  stood  as  their  representa- 
tive for  forty  days.  But  this  very  people  who  had  heard 
the  voice  of  God,  had  turned  to  idolatry  at  the  foot  of  the 
mount.  Their  jewels  had  been  collected  and  formed  into 
a  golden  calf — the  god  of  the  Egyptians,  from  whose  ser- 
vice they  had  been  delivered.  "  They  had  set  down  to  eat, 
and  rose  up  to  play."  With  what  feelings  must  the  man 
of  God  have  turned  from  the  mount ;  from  converse  with 
the  Deity  !  But  as  he  descended,  and  the  sound  of  revelry 
burst  upon  his  ear,  he  could  restrain  himself  no  longer ;  he 
dashed  from  his  hand  the  tables  of  the  law,  written  by  the 
finger  of  Omnipotence,  and  thej  brake  at  the  foot  of  the 
mount. 


I.]  THE   DIVINE    GLORY.  19 

This  act  was  censurable ;  and  yet  it  furnishes  no  small 
indication  of  the  feelings  by  which  he  was  then  influenced, 
the  views  by  which  he  was  governed.  He  may  have  sup- 
posed that  the  Israelites  were  honored  because  of  their 
faith.  They  were  free  from  idolatry.  And  it  was  right 
that  an  idolatrous  nation  should  be  destroyed  to  furnish  this 
pious  people  a  place  of  abode.  But  if  so,  what  now  shall 
be  done  to  the  Israelites  ?  Bad  as  were  the  Canaanites, 
the  Israelites  were  far  worse.  The  people  of  Palestine 
had  been  taught  idolatry ;  they  had  seen  no  miracles  ;  no 
pillar  of  fire  had  guided  them ;  no  sea  had  been  divided 
before  them ;  they  had  not  been  fed  from  heaven ;  and 
had  never  heard  the  voice  of  God.  Their  sin  was  in  part 
palliated  by  ignorance.  But  this  people,  while  eating  bread 
from  heaven,  with  the  throne  of  God  in  their  midst,  sur- 
rounded with  the  clouds  of  his  grandeur  hanging  in  awful 
magnificence  as  curtains  around  the  mountain's  summit, 
while  he  himself  was  penning  for  them  his  eternal  law, 
as  if  to  insult  him,  had  made  a  golden  calf.  They  had 
clothed  it  with  the  attributes  of  Jehovah ;  ascribed  to  it  the 
miracles  of  the  deliverance,  and  then,  as  in  mockery,  had 
cried  but  in  the  ear  of  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  "  These  be  thy  gods,  O  Israel,  which  brought  thee 
up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt." 

Nor  was  it  only  the  thoughtless,  the  ignorant,  the  ob- 
scure, that  engaged  in  this  blasphemy.  Aaron — the  elo- 
quent Aaron — the  mouth  of  Moses,  when  he  spake  the 
word  of  God  unto  Pharaoh,  with  the  elders  of  Israel,  had 
joined  in  the  impious  rites.  Under  such  circumstances,  if 
Canaanites  merited  the  wrath  of  God,  seventy  and  seven 
fold  should  be  the  vengeance  taken  on  Israel.  If  to  the 
one  were  appointed  the  destroying  sword,  what  but  fire  from 
heaven  to  consume,  or  a  yawning  earth  to  engulf,  could  be 
a  fit  punishment  for  the  deeds  of  the  other  ?  Is  it  wonder- 
ful, that  Moses  should  cast  from  his  hands  a  law  for  which 
this  people  were  now  unprepared,  and  should,  in  the  an- 
guish of  his  heart,  despair  for  them  as  to  the  mercy  of  God  ? 

But  vengeance  does  not  fall  from  heaven.  The  people 
are  still  spared.  And,  after  various  periods  of  supplication, 
he  is  even  answered,  "My  presence  shall  go  with  thee, 
and  I  will  give  thee  rest."  What  can  this  mean — the  idol- 
atrous Canaanite  cut  off,  the  idolatrous  Jew  spared  ?     Some 


20  MANIFESTATION   OF  [SER. 

great  development  must  be  in  preparation,  some  grand 
display  of  the  divine  character.  What  can  be  the  mea- 
sure of  that  mercy,  which  is  preceded  by  the  preparatory 
act  of  the  pardon  of  two  millions  and  a  half  of  people  ? 
His  longing  soul  desires  to  know  all  the  purposes  of  God. 
The  act  of  mercy,  just  witnessed,  kindled  within  him  a 
greater  love  for  God,  a  more  earnest  wish  to  fathom  the 
depths  of  his  goodness  ;  and,  with  the  vehemence  of  intense 
desire,  he  cries  out,  "  I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory  " 
— grant  me  a  full  exhibition  of  thy  mercy  and  thy  love. 

II.  Let  us  next  consider  how  far  this  desire  was  satis- 
fied. 

In  answer  to  this  earnest  prayer,  the  Deity  replies, 
(v.  19,)  "  I  will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee, 
and  I  will  proclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  before  thee  ;  and 
will  be  gracious  to  whom  I  will  be  gracious,  and  will  show 
mercy  on  whom  I  will  show  mercy."  Again  in  verses 
21-23,  "  Behold  there  is  a  place  by  me,  and  thou  shalt 
stand  upon  a  rock  ;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  while  my 
glory  passeth  by,  that  I  will  put  thee  in  a  cleft  of  the  rock, 
and  will  cover  thee  with  my  hand  while  I  pass  by ;  and  I 
will  take  away  my  hand,  and  thou  shalt  see  my  back  parts." 
And  again  it  is  said,  in  chap,  xxxiv,  5-7,  "  And  the  Lord 
descended  in  the  cloud,  and  stood  with  him  there,  and  pro- 
claimed the  name  of  the  Lord.  And  the  Lord  passed  by 
before  him  and  proclaimed.  The  Lord,  The  Lord  God, 
merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  good- 
ness and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  ini- 
quity, and  transgression,  and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means 
clear  the  guilty ;  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children,  and  upon  the  children's  children,  unto  the 
third  and  to  the  fourth  generation." 

In  this  manifestation  of  the  divine  character  to  Moses, 
a  few  particulars  may  be  noticed. 

1.  He  proclaimed  the  name  of  the  Lord  before  him. 
This  probably  refers  to  such  a  general  view  of  the  divine 
administration  as  exhibits  the  benevolence,  holiness,  and 
justice  of  God,  intimately  blended  in  the  government  of 
man. 

2.  He  made  all  his  goodness  pass  before  him.  This 
was  probably  a  prophetic  view  of  his  mercy  to  the  Israel- 
ites as  a  nation ;  in  which  was  exhibited  not  merely  his 


I.]  THE  DIVINE   GLORY.  2X 

sparing  them  on  that  occasion,  but  their  settlement  and 
continuance  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  strict  fulfillment  of 
the  promises  made  to  the  patriarchs  in  their  behalf. 

3.  He  showed  him  his  administration  as  a  sovereign : 
"  I  will  be  gracious  to  whom  I  will  be  gracious,  and  I  will 
show  mercy  on  whom  I  will  show  mercy."  Here  was  ex- 
plained the  difference  of  the  treatment  of  Israel  and  Ca- 
naan. The  latter  had  filled  the  measure  of  their  iniquity 
as  a  nation,  and  no  great  benefit  would  be  secured  to  the 
race  by  their  national  existence  ;  while  the  former,  though 
guilty  of  aggravated  sins,  might,  as  a  nation,  be  made  a 
blessing  to  the  world.  And  that,  for  the  accomplishment 
of  some  great  good  to  man,  a  nation  might  be  made  the 
subject  of  mercy  and  grace,  as  to  civil  existence  and  pros- 
perity, without  any  actual  good  deserts ; — thus  showing 
the  national  bearmg  of  a  passage,  with  which  many  pious 
individuals  have  been  greatly  perplexed.  Yet  the  same 
principle  may  have,  and  doubtless  often  has  had,  applica- 
tion to  individuals  so  far  as  temporal  position  is  concerned, 
but  not  extending  to  their  salvation.  Yet  both  as  to  na- 
tions and  individuals,  when  the  day  of  employment  shall 
be  over,  crime  shall  be  visited  with  punishment ;  in  the  in- 
dividual it  might  not  be  on  earth,  but  in  nations  it  shall  be 
visited  "  upon  the  children,  and  upon  the  children's  chil- 
dren, unto  the  third  and  to  the  fourth  generation." 

4.  He  gave  him  a  prophetic  view  of  the  mission  of 
Christ.  This  is  indicated  in  the  expression,  "  Thou  shalt 
see  my  back  parts."  The  Hebrew  word  in  this  place 
translated  "  back  parts,"  refers  to  time  as  well  as  to  positiori. 
And  many  able  commentators  and  critics  have  referred 
this  passage  to  the  incarnation  of  Christ.  This  rendering 
conforms  so  well  to  the  general  use  of  the  word,  and  to 
the  tenor  of  Scripture,  that  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  of 
its  correctness.  And  a  free  translation  might  be,  "  Thou 
shalt  see  me,  as  manifested  in  the  latter  days." 

The  revelation  appears  to  have  been  given  to  Moses, 
to  strengthen  his  own  faith,  and  to  fit  him  for  those  ardu- 
ous duties  required  of  the  leader  of  such  a  people.  He  is 
placed  in  a  "  cleft  of  the  rock,"  and  before  him  passes,  as 
though  spread  out  on  an  immense  canvass,  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  future.  He  beholds  the  goodness  of  God 
to    the    rebellious  Jew ;    sees    him    settled   in  the    Holy 


22  MANIFESTATION   OF  [SER. 

Land ;  kings  and  princes,  wise  and  noble,  and  holy  men, 
adorn  their  race,  and  Judea  is  a  blessing  to  the  world. 
And  as  the  pillar  of  cloud,  and  the  ark  and  its  mercy  seat, 
are  sometimes  called  the  glory  of  God  ;  so  he  beholds  in  the 
institutions  of  his  \)GO])\e,  in  the  influences  of  his  law,  and 
the  messages  of  the  prophets,  the  "  glory  of  God"  spread- 
ing among  men.  But  a  shade  falls  upon  the  canvass.  The 
Deity  hides  the  future  in  his  hand.  Again  his  hand  is  re- 
moved— the  indications  of  some  grand  coming  event  be- 
come closer  and  closer,  as  rays  of  hallowed  light  emerging 
to  a  focus,  until  at  last,  as  the  "  glory  of  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father,"  he  beholds  "  the  seed  of  Abraham,  in  whom 
the  nations  of  the  earth  sliall  be  blessed ;"  the  ■•'  Shiloh "  of 
Jacob,  who  grasped  the  departing  sceptre  of  Judah.  His 
soul  leaps  forward  to  meet  him  on  the  mount  of  transfigu- 
ration ;  joy  swells  his  heart,  and  he  can  hear  no  more. 
He  bows  his  head  and  worships. 

III.  We  can  now  inquire  why  his  petition  was  not  fully 
granted. 

1.  From  what  has  been  already  expressed,  we  are  pre- 
pared to  assume  that  it  was  not  because  in  any  manifesta- 
tion there  would  be  such  terrific  grandeur  as  should  de- 
stroy human  existence.  For,  first,  Moses,  we  think,  did 
not  pray  for  external  manifestations.  These  could  be  but 
symbols ;  and,  however  vast  and  magnificent  the  symbols 
might  be,  they  never  could  adequately  represent  the  di- 
vine character.  But,  secondly,  there  is  no  intimation  made, 
as  we  think,  that  if  an  exhibition  were  given,  it  would  be 
one  of  terrific  majesty.  If  the  dispensations  of  God 
toward  man  are  pre-eminently  characterized  by  mercy,  and 
if  his  love  cannot  be  expressed  in  language,  and  could  be 
adequately  revealed  only  in  the  incarnation  and  passion 
of  his  only  begotten  Son,  then,  if  his  character  could  be 
portrayed  by  symbols,  if  his  glory  could  thus  be  made 
known,  the  symbols  must  be  those  of  superlative  benevo- 
lence, of  condescending  grace.  We  are  aware  that  the  ex- 
pression of  the  apostle,  "  For  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire," 
is  sometimes  quoted  to  sustain  the  terrific  view  of  the  di- 
vine character ;  but  this  refers  to  his  judgments  upon  the 
finally  impenitent,  and  not  to  any  manifestations  or  dis- 
pensations toward  those  who  are  still  on  probation. 

2.  The  language  employed  in  the  text,  "  Thou  canst  not 


I.]  THE   DIVINE    GLORY.  23 

see  my  face  ;  for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and  live,"  does 
not  express  any  reason  why  man  is  unable  to  bear  a  view 
of  the  Deity.  It  simply  declares  the  fact,  that  man  cannot 
see  the  face  of  God.  If,  then,  we  inquire  what  is  meant 
by  the  term  "  face,"  we  are  at  once  satisfied  that  it  can 
have  no  such  application  to  a  spirit  as  it  has  to  man.  It 
must  be  used  figuratively.  And  as  the  face  is  that  part 
of  the  human  form  which  remains  uncovered  and  visible  ; 
that  part  which  particularly  indicates  to  others  the  definite 
person  or  individual ;  while  other  parts  of  the  form  are  pro- 
tected by  raiment — so  the  term  is  used  figuratively  to  signify 
that  which  is  fully  or  clearly  seen  :  and  when  applied  to  the 
Deity,  would  be  a  full  revelation  of  the  divine  character ; 
embracing  all  his  plans  of  mercy  and  benevolence  to  his 
created  intelligences. 

3.  The  reason  why  man  could  not  behold  this  and  live, 
would  not  be  because  of  its  terror  or  majesty ;  but  because 
the  view  of  the  riches  of  His  grace,  his  compassion  and  be- 
nevolence, would  excite  emotions  of  reverence,  of  admira- 
tion, of  love,  and  of  joy,  too  overwhelming  for  humanity  to 
bear.  Each  manifestation  of  the  benevolence  of  God  called 
forth  songs  of  joy  and  ascriptions  of  praise  from  those  who 
beheld  them  in  ancient  times.  They  rejoiced  when  they  be- 
held the  "  bow  of  promise"  spanning  the  arch  of  heaven  with 
its  glorious  array  of  colors  ;  when  they  saw  the  intervention 
of  the  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  and  the  guidance  of  the  pillar 
of  fire  by  night ;  when  the  sea  parted  before  them,  and 
they  saw  the  salvation  of  God ;  when,  for  the  deliveriince 
of  Israel,  the  Assyrian  host  was  smitten  before  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  ;  when  the  divine  glory  descended  and  rested 
upon  the  tabernacle  they  had  reared,  and  when,  after  their 
captivity,  the  second  temple  was  erected  and  consecrated, 
amidst  the  tears  and  rejoicings  of  the  restored  captives. 
At  these,  and  many  other  displays  of  benevolence  and  love, 
the  ancient  Jews  rejoiced  greatly.  The  spirits  of  the 
prophets  rejoiced  within  them,  when  in  vision  they  beheld 
the  day  of  Christ ;  and  when  the  devout  Simeon  beheld  even 
the  infant  Jesus  brought  into  the  temple,  his  joy  swelled 
into  ecstasy,  and  feeling  all  he  could  desire,  he  cried  out  in 
rapture,  "  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace,  according  to  thy  word ;  for  mine  eyes  have  seen 
thy  salvation."     Now  if,  in  these  cases,  a  single  view  had 


24  MANIFESTATION   OF  [SER. 

such  an  effect,  what  would  be  the  result,  if  all  the  mercy 
and  compassion  of  God,  in  its  unbounded  immensity  and 
inexhaustible  fullness,  could,  at  one  moment,  be  revealed 
to  the  human  mind  ?  Humanity  could  not  bear  the  vision. 
No  man  can  see  "  the  face  of  God  and  live ;"  because  the 
sublimity  of  the  view  would  produce  not  only  "joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory,"  but  joy  at  which  the  soul 
should  be  unfitted  for  residing  in  the  body.  To  support 
this  view  we  may  reflect,  that  things  exciting  emotions 
even  of  a  pleasurable  character  may  extend  so  far  as  to 
become  destructive,  and  that  emotions  of  joy  may  in  them- 
selves destroy  life.  Light  is  pleasant,  it  spreads  a  halo  of 
beauty  and  glory  around  the  face  of  nature.  The  eye  is 
never  satisfied  with  the  revelations  which  are  made  through 
its  medium.  Yet  let  that  light,  which  thus  spreads  beauty 
around,  fall  upon  the  eye  in  the  concentrated  form  of  a  ray 
from  the  meridian  sun,  and  the  power  of  vision  is  impaired, 
if  not  totally  destroyed.  What  delight  is  communicated 
by  means  of  sound !  the  melody  of  birds — the  murmur  of 
the  waterfall — the  music  of  instruments — and  the  sound  of 
that  sweetest  and  richest  of  all  instruments,  the  human 
voice — awaken  the  most  pleasurable  emotions.  And  yet, 
let  that  murmur  of  the  waterfall  be  changed  into  the  roar 
of  the  cataract,  and  it  is  deafening.  Sound  may  be  so  in- 
tense and  prolonged,  that  the  auditory  nerve  shall  no  longer 
respond  to  its  vibrations. 

The  same  is  true  of  mental  emotion.  How  the  mind 
operates  upon  the  body  we  cannot  tell.  No  anatomist  has 
detected  the  fine  chords  which  bind  spirit  and  matter  to- 
gether. But  that  the  emotions  of  the  mind  do  affect  the 
body  is  universally  admitted.  Death  from  surprise,  from 
fright,  from  terror,  from  all  the  depressing  passions,  has 
been  by  no  means  uncommon.  And  where  death  has  not 
ensued,  how  many  have  been  made  maniacs  for  life !  Nor 
is  excitement  confined  to  the  unpleasant  emotions.  Scenes 
of  sublimity  may  inspire,  as  much  as  scenes  of  terror  can 
alarm.  Man's  soul  responds  as  quickly  and  as  strongly 
to  the  beautiful,  the  lovely,  the  good,  as  to  that  which  of- 
fends or  disgusts.  And  the  emotions  arising  from  the 
beautiful  are  no  more  under  our  control,  and  are  no  more 
limited  in  strength,  than  those  of  the  opposite  character. 

In  the  every-day  walks  of  life,  who  has  not  known  of  a 


I.]  THE  DIVINE   GLORY.  25 

case  like  this  ?  A  beloved  son  has  left  the  home  of  fond 
parents  to  engage  in  commercial  pursuits,  or  visit  some  dis- 
tant place.  By  various  causes  his  stay  is  prolonged,  until 
at  last  the  tidings  reach  his  parents  that  he  was  wrecked 
off  some  rocky  coast ;  or,  that  he  perished  in  a  fatal  epi- 
demic. They  mourn  for  him  as  one  that  is  lost ;  and  they 
think  of  him  only  as  in  the  spirit  world.  Years  pass  away, 
and  though  strangely  preserved,  his  parents  are  not  aware 
of  his  existence.  He  starts  for  home.  Already  he  stands 
upon  the  hill  that  overlooks  the  scenes  of  his  boyhood ;  the 
house,  and  trees,  and  shrubs,  all  stand  as  when  he  left; 
his  heart  exults  at  the  thought  of  embracing  his  parents, 
and,  thoughtless  as  to  consequences,  he  hastily  approaches. 
He  opens  the  door.  His  mother  gazes  at  him  but  a  mo- 
ment, cries,  "My  son,  my  son,"  throws  her  arms  fondly 
around  his  neck,  and  swoons  away  in  his  arms.  And  in- 
stances have  occurred,  in  which,  from  that  swoon,  there  has 
been  no  recovery. 

Nor  can  it  be  said  that  such  cases  occur  only  among  the 
weaker  and  more  nervous  portions  of  the  human  family. 
All  are  excitable.  They  may  differ  as  to  the  objects  which 
excite,  and  as  to  the  degree  of  excitement  produced  by 
any  definite  object,  but  still,  let  the  subject  be  one  about 
which  their  minds  are  deeply  interested,  and  all  are  suscep' 
tible  of  intense  excitement.  The  grave  and  steady  citizen, 
in  times  of  great  political  discussion,  when  he  supposes  the 
welfare  of  his  country  is  dependent  on  the  result  of  an  elec- 
tion, becomes  so  deeply  interested,  that  he  loses  his  custo- 
mary self-control.  And  vdien,  at  the  close  of  a  warmly  con- 
tested canvass,  his  party  triumphs,  he  tosses  his  cap  wildly 
in  the  air,  or  joins  in  the  loud  exultation. 

History  informs  us,  that  in  the  time  of  the  great  South 
Sea  speculation  in  England,  many,  overjoyed  by  their  suc- 
cess, became  insane.  At  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  a 
number  of  the  nobility  were  so  affected  by  the  recovery 
of  their  titles  and  estates,  that  they  became  diseased,  and 
in  a  short  time  died.  Leo  X.,  one  of  the  most  renowned 
occupants  of  the  Papal  chair,  was  so  rejoiced  by  a  victory 
somewhat  unexpectedly  gained  over  his  enemies,  that  he 
sunk  beneath  the  excitement.  The  heir  of  Leibnitz,  the 
celebrated  mathematician,  on  finding  that  a  chest,  filled,  as 
he  supposed,  with  papers,  contained  a  large  quantity  of 
2 


26  MANIFESTATION  OF  [SER. 

gold,  became  so  excited  by  the  discovery,  that  he  was 
seized  with  a  fatal  disease  of  the  heart.  The  celebrated 
Rittenhouse,  Pennsylvania's  earliest  astronomer,  was  se- 
lected to  observe  the  transit  of  Venus  across  the  sun's  disc, 
in  order  that  the  correctness  of  many  of  the  astronomical 
calculations  might  be  tested.  Having  made  all  necessary 
arrangements  and  calculations,  he  watched  earnestly  for 
the  expected  transit ;  and  when,  at  the  calculated  moment, 
he  saw  the  dark  boundary  of  the  planet  obscure  the  edge 
of  the  sun's  disc,  he  was  so  overcome  with  emotion,  that 
he  swooned  away,  and  his  assistants  were  obliged  to  finish 
the  observations.  The  immortal  Newton,  when  he  ap- 
proached toward  the  completion  of  those  calculations  that 
demonstrated  his  discovery  of  the  great  laws  of  nature,  and 
that  gave  him  an  imperishable  name,  and  when  he  saw 
that  his  conjectures  were  about  to  be  verified,  was  so 
deeply  affected,  that  he  was  obliged  to  leave  to  others  the 
work  of  completing  his  calculations.  Near  the  close  of  the 
revolutionary  war,  the  attention  of  Congress,  and  of  the 
whole  American  people,  was  directed  toward  the  armies 
of  Washington  and  Cornwallis,  and  some  movement  was 
daily  expected,  having  a  powerful  bearing  upon  our  coun- 
try's liberty.  When  the  messenger  arrived,  bringing  the 
joyful  intelligence  that  Cornwallis  had  surrendered,  the 
doorkeeper  of  Congress  fell  dead  upon  the  floor  of  the  hall. 
If  such,  then,  be  the  influence  of  joyful  emotions,  when 
arising  from  temporal  subjects,  will  the  effect  be  diminished 
by  adding  the  revelation  of  the  unseen  and  eternal  ?  Can 
emotions  excited  by  a  view  of  the  majesty,  holiness,  wis- 
dom, and  compassion,  of  the  eternal  Jehovah,  be  less 
strong,  than  those  excited  by  considering  a  small  portion 
of  the  work  of  his  hands  ?  And  is  it  unreasonable  to  ex- 
pect that  the  truths  of  Christianity  will  produce  deep  and 
powerful  religious  emotion  ?  If  an  astronomer  shall  swoon, 
and  a  Newton  sink  overpowered  by  the  discovery  of  some 
of  the  laws  by  which  the  Deity  governs  the  material 
world  ;  if  Pope  Leo  should  sink  through  joy  at  the  triumph 
of  his  army,  and  a  patriot  die  at  the  triumph  of  his  coun- 
try ;  if  the  unexpected  inheritance  of  a  chest  of  gold,  or  the 
restoration  of  rank  and  estate  should  destroy  the  action  of 
vital  organs ;  what  shall  be  said  of  him  on  whose  vision 
should  burst  the  revelation  of  the  laws  of  the  Deity  in  the 


I.]  THE    DIVINE    GLORY.  27 

moral  world ;  a  full  view  of  the  riches  of  his  grace  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  of  his  amazing  condescension  and  love 
in  giving  his  Son  to  die  to  save  a  rebellious  world  fast 
sinking  into  destruction,  and  by  his  offers  of  mercy,  and 
influences  of  his  Spirit,  raising  feeble,  sinful  .man,  to  the 
throne  of  his  glory,  having  first  purified  him  from  all  ini- 
quity ?  If  natural  emotion  may  be  so  intense  that  the  soul 
and  body  cannot  unitedly  subsist,  well  may  it  be  said  of 
such  a  manifestation,  '•  There  shall  no  man  see  me  and 
live." 

As  a  general  inference  from  this  subject,  we  may  no- 
tice what  a  sublime  view  is  thus  presented  of  the  revela- 
tion contained  in  the  word  of  Grod. 

1.  It  is  a  system  of  truth ;  in  which,  directly  or  indirectly, 
each  separate  truth  leads  to  the  great  commanding  truth 
of  the  being  and  attributes  of  God.  This  is  the  substance 
of  revelation ;  God  displayed  in  creation,  in  government, 
and  in  mercy  to  man.  All  other  statements  are  but  as 
secondaries  revolving  around  their  primary.  The  whole 
of  revelation  is  such  a  view  of  the  character  of  God  as 
shall  attract  men  to  virtue,  to  happiness,  and  to  glory. 
And  as  the  character  of  God  is  infinite  in  its  perfections,  it 
can  never  be  perfectly  comprehended  by  finite  minds.  So 
much  of  the  truth  may  be  readily  embraced  as  shall  set 
man  free  from  the  power  of  other  attractions,  but  there  is 
still  an  inexhaustible  remainder.  The  greatest  minds  may 
here  be  for  ever  engaged  ;  intellect  may  learn  much ;  pro- 
phets and  kings  may  gaze  with  delight ;  and  even  angels 
shall  desire  to  look  into  these  sublime  truths  ;  but,  like  the 
parallel  lines  of  the  mathematician,  there  may  be  eternal 
approximation  without  perfect  attainment. 

2.  But  revelation  is  not  merely  a  system  of  sublime 
truth.  It  is  truth  so  presented  as  to  affect  our  sensitive 
nature.  It  is  not  abstract  speculation  alone  that  is  em- 
ployed ;  our  affections,  our  sympathies,  are  all  enlisted. 
It  is  a  system  intended  to  operate  upon  man.  It  operates, 
first,  by  presenting  the  grand,  the  lofty,  the  majestic  attri- 
butes of  the  divine  character.  And  as  the  contemplation 
of  great  characters,  the  association  with  the  great  person- 
ages of  earth,  inspire  the  soul  with  lofty  sentiments  and 
high  purposes,  so  the  revelation  of  God's  majesty  becomes 
a  powerful  cause  of  elevation  to  man.     It  is  fixing  in  an 


28  MANIFESTATION   OF  [SER. 

immovable  position  a  fulcrum  which,  more  than  the  lever 
of  Archimedes,  shall  move  in  elevating  humanity  toward 
the  throne  of  God.  It  operates,  secondly,  by  inspiring 
man  with  what  is  termed,  technically,  the  sympathetic 
emotion  of  virtue.  The  performance  of  a  brave,  a  noble, 
a  patriotic,  or  a  virtuous  act,  makes  us  desire  to  do  the 
same.  And  when  God  reveals  himself  as  a  God  of  mercy, 
employing  his  omnipotence  in  acts  of  compassion,  there  is 
a  voice  that  whispers  to  the  heart  through  every  such 
manifestation,  "Be  ye  merciful,  even  as  I  am  merciful." 
As  that  mercy  is  over  all  his  works — as  his  sunshine  and 
showers  fall  upon  all  alike — as  his  Son  suffered  for  all — 
so  the  compassion  taught  us  is  universal.  The  soul  under 
such  influences  desires  mercy  upon  all.  It  sends  the  Bible 
on  the  wings  of  the  morning,  carrying  light  and  animation 
to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth.  It  sends  the  missionary 
to  bear  the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  warmed  even 
angels'  hearts,  to  those  that  sit  in  the  valley  and  shadow 
of  death.  It  opens  the  school  and  founds  the  college,  and 
seeks  in  every  possible  manner  to  benefit  the  race  to  which 
we  belong,  and  toward  which  God  hath  showed  such  amaz- 
ing mercy.  It  operates,  thirdly,  by  exciting  gratitude  and 
joy  for  personal  salvation — for  pardon,  for  regeneration, 
and  for  adoption  into  the  family  of  the  Most  High.  The 
grateful  soul  is  ready  to  exclaim,  "  What  shall  I  render 
unto  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  toward  me  !"  "  What  am 
I,  and  what  is  my  Father's  house,"  that  I  should  thus  be 
the  subject  of  divine  love !  And  that  gratitude  and  joy 
become  vastly  expanded  by  the  reflection,  that  similar  fa- 
vor is  showed  to  all  our  kindred  and  to  all  our  race ;  that 
our  fathers  were  the  subjects  of  mercy,  and  our  children, 
and  our  children's  children,  shall  inherit  the  same  salva- 
tion;  that  in  every  clime,  tongue,  kindred,  and  people, 
may  be  experienced  the  same  joys  of  pardoning  mercy. 
At  such  a  view  we  may  well  exclaim  with  the  apostle, 
"  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge of  God  !"  A  fourth  effect  of  such  revelation  is,  that 
the  soul  desires  to  dwell  constantly  as  in  the  presence  of 
God.  In  him  is  all  fullness — the  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge  for  the  intellect,  of  grace  and  mercy  for  the 
soul.  He  becomes  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  to  the  be- 
lieving heart ;  and  as  the  Deity  grants  such  personal  com- 


I.]  THE  DIVINE  GLORY.  29 

munlon,  the  soul  becomes  refined  and  purified.  The  world 
diminishes  in  value  ;  eternity,  with  all  its  spiritual  blessed- 
ness, gradually  unfolds  before  the  moral  vision ;  and  the 
limit  of  joy  is  only  found  in  the  necessity  of  fitness  for  du- 
ties here.  There  is  no  limit  in  the  fullness,  glory,  and 
sublimity,  of  the  divine  character.  There  is  no  limit  in 
the  willingness  of  God  to  impart,  for  "  He  that  spared  not 
his  own  Son,  but  freely  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how 
shall  he  not  with  him  freely  give  us  all  things  ?"  There  is  no 
limit  of  power  as  to  the  agent,  "  For  we  all  with  open  face 
beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed 
into  the  same  image,  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord."  The  limit  is  only  found  in  the  fact, 
that  humanity  can  best  discharge  the  duties  imposed  on  us 
here  when  those  manifestations  are  not  overwhelmingly 
grand.  Under  this  limitation  the  spirit  of  the  Bible  is  a 
spirit  of  joy,  crying  constantly  to  the  true  Christian,  "  Re- 
joice evermore,  and  again  I  say,  rejoice." 

2.  That  such  are  the  effects  of  the  manifestation  of  God's 
mercy,  we  are  further  warranted  in  believing  from  the  his- 
tory of  distinguished  individuals.  Moses,  when  the  name 
of  the  Lord  was  proclaimed  before  him,  and  his  goodness 
passed  before  him,  "  made  haste  and  bowed  his  head  toward 
the  earth  and  worshiped."  He  adored  and  reverenced. 
But  in  the  midst  of  that  adoration  there  was  no  such  alarm 
as  made  Israel  say,  "  Let  not  God  speak  with  us ;"  his 
soul  desired  still  the  presence  of  God,  and  his  immediate 
prayer  was,  "  Let  my  Lord,  I  pray  thee,  go  among  us." 
And  such  was  the  influence  of  the  manifestations  he  re- 
ceived, that  his  face  shone  with  such  glory  that  the  people 
could  not  look  upon  him  unveiled ;  or,  in  other  words,  the 
manifestations  of  goodness  and  of  glory  were  carried  to  the 
utmost  possible  point  at  which  his  usefulness  to  the  people 
of  Israel  could  remain.  When  Daniel  was  showed  in  pro- 
phetic vision  the  return  of  the  captive  Jews,  and  when  the 
succession  of  empire  was  revealed,  and  the  things  that 
should  happen  in  the  latter  days,  he  says,  "  There  remained 
no  strength  in  me ;"  and  before  he  was  able  to  hear  the 
whole  prediction,  the  angel  touched  him  to  strengthen  him. 
On  the  mount  of  transfiguration  the  disciples  were  so  over- 
whelmed that  "  they  knew  not  what  they  said,"  or  did  not 
fully  see  the  impropriety  of  their  request,  and  yet  were  so 


30  MANIFESTATION   OF  [SEB. 

enchanted  that  they  said,  "  Master,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be 
here."  The  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  who  in  the  learning 
of  his  age  and  in  strength  of  intellect  had  few  if  any  equals, 
was  so  charmed  with  heavenly  visions,  that  Avhether  he 
was  "  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body "  he  could  not  tell ; 
while  the  exiled  apostle  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos  fell  as  one 
that  was  dead. 

3.  What  an  unfailing  source  of  comfort  and  joy  is  opened 
for  the  Christian  in  the  revelation  which  God  hath  given  ? 
His  joy  is  not  of  this  world,  it  is  in  God.  The  world  may 
change,  but  God  changeth  not.  God's  glory  never  faileth 
— the  Christian's  spring  of  happiness  never  runs  dry.  What 
a  beautiful  figure  to  represent  this  life  from  God  is  that 
employed  in  the  description  of  the  New  Jerusalem :  "  A 
pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out 
of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  !"  Of  this  the  pu- 
rified partake.  The  kingly  and  mediatorial  government 
of  God  ever  furnishes  the  just  spirits  with  increasing  ad- 
miration of  the  glory  of  God.  And  on  earth  true  Chris- 
tian comfort  is  the  same.  It  is  of  God — it  is  in  God. 
Property  may  vanish,  friends  may  fail,  health  may  be  de- 
stroyed, but  God  still  is  immutably  glorious,  and  from  his 
throne  still-  flows  the  pure  river,  clear  as  crystal,  imparting 
life  and  joy  to  all  that  dwell  upon  its  banks.  It  is  a  river 
of  mercy,  a  river  of  grace,  and  he  that  drinketh  of  its 
water  needs  never  thirst  again  for  the  turbid  streams  of 
earthly  joy. 

4.  If  then  the  effect  of  the  manifestation  of  God's  mercy 
and  love  be  to  elevate,  to  ennoble,  and  to  rejoice  the  heart 
of  man,  why  should  not  our  minds  dwell  upon  the  divine 
character  ?  We  may  not  indeed  "  find  out  the  Almighty 
to  perfection,"  but  we  learn  more  and  more  of  his  glory. 
He  did  not  chide  Moses  for  his  enlarged  prayer,  nor  will 
he  chide  us  for  seeking  the  utmost  knowledge  and  enjoy- 
ment of  his  grace.  Christianity  alone  oflTers  man  know- 
ledge and  joy  which  can  perfectly  fill  his  expansive  capa- 
city, and  for  that  knowledge  and  that  grace  unceasing  effort 
should  be  made,  and  ceaseless  prayer  offered  to  the  Most 
High.     For  this  we  may  come  boldli/  to  the  throne  of  grace. 

5.  And  if  the  limit  of  manifestation  of  mercy  is  found  in 
the  circumstances  of  the  creature  and  not  in  God,  who 


I.]  THE  DIVINE   GLORY.  31 

shall  attempt  to  say  what  glorious  enjoyment  awaits  the 
celestial  citizen  ?  Or  who  shall  fix  the  limits  to  the  amount 
of  blissful  manifestation  which  may  be  made  to  the  soul 
when  about  to  be  released  from  its  earthly  duties  and  con- 
nections ?  It  was  a  favorite  opinion  of  many  of  the  Roman 
and  Grecian  philosophers  and  poets,  that  the  prophetic 
spirit  came  upon  man  in  his  dying  moments.  Aristotle, 
Socrates,  Pythagoras,  and  even  Homer,  make  allusions  to 
it,  and  consider  it  in  some  manner  connected  with  the 
soul's  immortality  ;  and  Xenophon  speaks  of  the  soul's  ap- 
pearing godlike  in  its  last  moments  with  the  body.  What 
may  have  given  rise  to  this  view  among  pagan  nations  we 
know  not ;  but  among  the  Jews  the  dying  patriarchs  had 
the  spirit  of  prophecy,  and  Jacob  blessed  his  sons,  "  wor- 
shiping and  leaning  upon  the  top  of  his  staff."  The  future 
opened  upon  their  vision  as  earth  was  receding,  and  ere 
its  earthly  departure  the  soul  seemed  as  an  inhabitant  of 
another  world.  And  is  it  not  an  increased  manifestation 
of  mercy  that  makes  the  "  chamber  where  the  good  man 
meets  his  fate"  seem  to  be  "  quite  on  the  verge  of  heaven  ?" 
May  it  not  have  been  such  manifestations  that  raised  the 
martyr's  spirit  above  the  power  of  the  flame,  and  enabled 
him,  with  Stephen,  to  look  "  up  steadfastly  into  heaven, 
and"  to  see  "the  glory  of  God,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the 
right  hand  of  God  ?"  Is  it  not  this  that  enables  the  dying 
Christian  to  exclaim,  "O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O 
grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?" 

6.  Does  it  seem  unreasonable  that  when  life  is  about  to 
be  over,  the  Deity  should  withdraw  his  hand,  and  let  such 
a  view  of  his  glory  upon  the  mind,  that  the  physical  frame 
shall  fall,  and  the  unfettered  spirit  rise  to  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  beatific  love  ?  Is  it  fanciful  to  suppose  that  this 
was  the  case  with  Moses  ?  His  was  a  peculiar  death. 
None  but  his  God  was  with  him. 

Behold  him,  in  fancy,  as  for  the  last  time  he  addresses 
Israel.  The  elders  and  all  the  people  are  around  him, 
with  their  wives  and  their  little  ones.  He  sets  before  them 
the  law  of  their  God,  and  exhorts  them  to  obedience.  The 
spirit  of  prophecy  comes  upon  him,  and  he  tells  them  of 
things  that  should  befall  them  in  time  to  come,  gives  them 
his  last  patriarchal  blessing,  and  then,  as  if  taking  liis  last 


32  MANIFESTATION  OF  THE  DIVINE  GLORY.         [SEE. 

look,  he  cries  out,  "  Happy  art  thou,  O  Israel ;  who  is  like 
unto  thee,  O  people  saved  by  the  Lord  ?" 

He  ascends  Mount  Nebo,  toward  the  top  of  Pisgah. 
The  veil  has  been  taken  from  his  face  for  the  last  time  as 
he  goes  up  to  meet  the  Lord.  Are  his  feelings  those  of 
dread  or  of  joy  ?  What  should  he  dread  ?  To  be  nearer 
Jehovah  is  his  greatest  joy,  and  he  is  to  receive  sublimer 
and  more  extensive  visions  of  glory.  Is  not  his  prayer 
still,  "I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory?"  He  stands 
upon  the  mountain's  summit,  and,  as  he  gazes,  there  spreads 
out  in  all  its  richness  and  in  all  its  beauty  the  promised 
land,  even  "  all  the  land  of  Gilead  unto  Dan,  and  all  Naph- 
tali,  and  the  land  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and  all  the 
land  of  Judah,  unto  the  utmost  sea."  He  looks  again,  and 
future  scenes  are  before  him.  Upon  Mount  Moriah  rises 
a  magnificent  building — a  splendid  temple.  Its  walls  are 
of  massive  structure,  its  columns  lofty  and  imposing,  and 
the  riches  of  Ophir  are  displayed  in  its  decorations.  A 
wise  king  is  on  the  throne  of  David,  and  milHons  of  people 
repose  in  peace  and  prosperity  beneath  his  sway.  Within 
the  court  of  the  temple  are  the  prescribed  sacrifices,  and 
devout  worshipers  turn  toward  the  place  of  the  mercy- 
seat.  .  Again  he  prays,  "  I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy 
glory."  And  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  and  along  the 
populous  courts  of  Galilee,  he  beholds  wandering  "  a  man 
of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief."  At  his  approach 
the  sick  and  infirm  crowd  around.  The  blind  see,  the  deaf 
hear,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  dead  are  brought  to  life, 
and  the  poor  hear  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom.  He  recog- 
nizes him  as  the  "  Hope  of  Israel,"  a  prophet  like  unto 
himself  in  mission,  but  as  the  morning  star  in  glory.  His 
soul  exults  within  him  as  he  sees  fulfilled  all  the  tyj)es  and 
shadows  of  the  ceremonies  instituted  by  him,  and  he  wor- 
ships his  incarnate  Lord.  Again  he  looks,  and  he  stands 
by  a  cross;  upon  it  is  the  King  of  the  Jews.  The  heavens 
are  hung  with  blackness,  and  creation  sympathizes  with 
the  divine  sufferer.  Then  the  agony  is  over;  the  earth 
has  quaked  ;  the  sun  shone  forth  with  his  brilliant  beams, 
as  the  triumphant  exclamation  was  heard,  "  It  is  finished  !" 
The  graves  of  the  dead  were  opened,  and  the  veil  conceal- 
ing the  holy  of  holies  was  rent  in  twain,  opening  up  a  new 
and  living  way  to  the  mercy-seat.     Again  he  prays,  "I 


II.]  INSPIRATION  OP  THE  HOLT  SCRIPTURES.  33 

beseecli  thee,  show  me  thy  glorj."  And  he  beholds  an  as- 
cended Saviour ;  the  angel  flies  through  the  midst  of  hea- 
ven proclaiming  the  gospel  to  man ;  the  Gentile  hears  as 
well  as  the  Jew ;  and  from  the  north  and  south,  from  the 
east  and  west,  come  flowing  around  the  cross  the  people 
of  every  tongue  and  kindred,  while  glorious  light  is  shining 
upon  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  all  mankind  is  blessed 
in  the  "  seed  of  Abraham."  Ecstasy  fills  his  soul,  but  he 
realizes  that  no  man  can  see  the  face  of  God  and  live. 
His  body  falls  upon  the  summit,  and  "the  Lord  buried 
him  ;"  while  his  spirit,  amid  visions  of  glory  on  the  moun- 
tain-top, ascends  to  brighter  bliss  and  more  refulgent  glory 
in  the  celestial  world. 

If  such  were  the  scene  which  we  have  attempted  to  de- 
scribe, what  bliss  would  there  not  be  in  such  a  death! 
And  may  not  the  dying  Christian,  wherever  he  may  be, 
even  deep  in  the  valley  of  humility,  have  bright  visions 
and  sweet  whispers  of  love  in  his  expiring  moments  ?  May 
not  the  manifestation  of  God's  mercy  soothe  his  sorrows, 
and  turn  his  sufferings  into  joy  ?  "  May  I  die  the  death 
of  the  righteous,  and  may  my  last  end  be  like  his !" 


SERMON   II. 
The  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

BY  REV.  STEPHEN  M.  VAIL,  A.  M., 

PRINCIPAL  OF   THE    NEW-JERSEY   CONFERENCE    SEMINARY. 

"All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God." — 2  Tim.  iii,  16. 
Ilacra  ypa(pri  ■&e6TTveviTTog. 

The  divine  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  we  con- 
ceive to  be  of  the  utmost  importance.  With  this  doctrine 
the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  must  stand  or  fall.  If  this 
be  given  up,  the  Bible  is  of  human  origin  and  composition, 
and  is  of  no  more  authority  than  other  books.  Indeed,  it 
becomes  a  mere  fabulous  record  whenever  it  deals  in  those 

2* 


^4  INSPIRATION   OF  [SER. 

high  subjects  which  are  above  human  comprehension.  We 
are  then  still  groping  in  the  dark  in  regard  to  the  great 
subjects  of  God,  man,  and  eternity ;  and  we  have  no  well- 
grounded  hope  of  heaven  and  eternal  life. 

The  apostle  declares  that  all  Scripture  is  divinely  in- 
spired;  that  is,  both  the  sentiment  and  the  writing — and 
"  all "  the  writings,  both  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  the 
New  Testament,  are  inspired  of  God.  Every  sentence, 
every  thought,  and  every  word,  were  originally  written  un- 
der the  direction  and  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This 
is  what  we  are  to  understand  by  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  both  in  its  nature  and  extent. 

I.  In  confirmation  of  this  doctrine,  we  would  ask  atten- 
tion to  the  following  considerations  and  arguments. 

1.  And,  first,  we  would  offer  a  short,  clear,  and  strong 
argument,  from  Mr.  Wesley.  "  The  Bible,"  says  he,  "  must 
be  the  invention  either  of  good  men  or  angels,  bad  men  or 
devils,  or  of  God." 

(1.)  It  could  not  be  the  invention  of  good  men  or  an- 
gels ;  for  they  neither  could  nor  would  make  a  book,  and 
tell  lies  all  the  time  they  were  writing  it,  saying,  "  Thus 
saith  the  Lord,"  when  it  was  their  own  invention. 

(2.)  It  could  not  be  the  invention  of  bad  men  or  devils  ; 
for  they  would  not  make  a  book  which  commands  all  duty, 
forbids  all  sin,  and  condemns  their  souls  to  hell  to  all 
eternity. 

(3.)  Therefore  we  must  draw  this  conclusion,  that  the 
Bible  must  have  been  given  by  divine  inspiration — that  it 
is  the  work  of  God. 

2.  Our  second  argument  is  derived  from  prophecy.  The 
ability  to  foretell  future  events,  especially  hundreds  of 
years  beforehand,  belongs  to  God  alone.  None  but  he 
who  is  possessed  of  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge, none  but  he  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
could  have  written,  or  caused  to  be  written,  the  prophetic 
portions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

All  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  were  prophets. 
They  received  their  words  from  the  Lord.  They  also  fore- 
told what  should  come  to  pass.  Moses  was  a  prophet,  and 
so  much  of  a  prophet  that  it  is  written,  (Deut.  xxxiv,  10,) 
"  There  arose  not  a  prophet  since  in  Israel,  ichom  the  Lord 
knew  face  to  face."'     It  was  customary  for  Christ  and  the 


II.]  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES.  35 

apostles  to  apply  the  term  ^'prophets''  to  all  the  writers  of 
the  Old  Testament.  Their  habitual  designation  of  the  en- 
tire Scriptures  was,  "Moses  and  the  prophets."  Luke 
xxiv,  25,  27,  44 ;  Matt,  v,  17 ;  vii,  12 ;  xi,  13  ;  xii,  40, 
&c.  Hear,  then,  Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  Daniel,  Zechariah, 
and  Malachi,  foretelling  the  coming  and  glories  of  the  king- 
dom of  Christ ;  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  declaring  the  over- 
throw of  the  cities  of  Babylon,  of  Nineveh,  of  Tyre  and 
Sidon — all  of  which  prophecies  have  been  literally  ful- 
filled ;  though  first  uttered  while  these  cities  were  in  pros- 
perity, and  hundreds  of  years  before  they  fell. 

Many  of  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament  are  also 
prophetic.  See  our  Saviour  on  the  summit  of  the  Mount 
of  Olives  with  his  disciples,  beholding  the  beautiful  city  and 
the  glorious  temple.  Hear  him  saying,  in  the  language  of 
prophecy,  "  For  the  days  shall  come  upon  thee  that  thine  ene- 
mies shall  cast  a  trench  about  thee,  and  compass  thee  around 
— and  shall  lay  thee  even  with  the  ground — and  they  shall 
not  leave  within  thee  one  stone  upon  another."  In  less 
than  forty  years  all  these  things  were  literally  fulfilled. 
Prophetic  passages  are  scattered  through  the  evangelists, 
the  Acts  and  the  epistles.  The  whole  book  of  Revelation 
is  a  prophecy  of  the  coming  and  establishment  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  The  apostles  are  called  prophets.  Paul  says 
to  the  Ephesians,  "  In  the  few  words  lohich  I  ivrote  afore, 
ye  may  understand  my  hnoivledge  in  the  mystery  of  Christ, 
which  in  other  ages  ivas  not  made  known  unto  the  sons  of 
men,  as  it  is  now  revealed  unto  his  holy  apostles  and 
PROPHETS  hy  his  Sjnrit."  From  this  passage  it  is  clearly 
manifest  that  Paul  is  called  a  prophet ;  also  that  Matthew, 
John,  Jude,  Peter,  and  James,  were  prophets,  who  had  re- 
ceived by  the  Spirit  the  mystery  of  Christ,  and  as  prophets 
they  wrote.  If  they  were  prophets  they  had  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord,  and  if  they  had  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  they  were 
inspired.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  prophetic  cha- 
racter of  the  writers,  and  also  of  the  books  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, clearly  makes  them  out  to  have  been  inspired  of 
God,  as  truly  so  as  were  the  writings  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. 

3.  The  declarations  of  the  Scriptures  themselves,  plainly 
prove  this  doctrine.  But  will  not  this  be  proving  inspi- 
ration by  inspiration?     It  would  be  so  indeed   did   we 


36  INSPIRATION   OF  [SER. 

assume  the  Bible  in  this  argument  to  be  inspired.  But 
ROW  we  take  it  only  as  a  book  of  truth,  declaring  true  doc- 
trines and  true  history  ;  as  such  we  receive  it,  and  by  itself 
prove  its  inspiration. 

It  is  declared  in  2  Pet.  i,  20,  21,  in  reference  to  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  that  "  no  jyrophecy  of  Scripture  is  of 
any  private  interpretation ;"  that  is,  obtained  by  individual 
means,  from  human  sagacity  or  reasoning,  but  it  is  rather 
obtained  from  God :  "  for  the  prophecy  came  not  in  old 
time  by  the  will  of  man,  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as 
they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  Here  we  have  an 
unequivocal  declaration  in  regard  to  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  that  men  wrote  them  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.  They  wrote  as  they  were  moved:  as  a 
vessel  is  moved  by  the  winds,  so  they  were  impelled  by 
the  Spirit  of  God;  that  is,  the  writing,  the  very  words, 
were  the  work  of  God,  and  not  of  man.  Thus  the  decla- 
ration of  the  text  is  verified,  "yl//  Scripture  is  given  hy 
inspiration  of  God."" 

If  we  claim  this  high  authority  for  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  much  more  may  we  for  the  New  Testament. 
The  Old  Testament  dispensation  was  introductory  to  the 
gospel,  and  preparatory  to  it.  It  was  a  dispensation  of 
types  and  shadows  of  better  things  to  come.  The  grace 
of  God  was  bound  to  the  Jewish  people.  But,  under  the 
gospel,  the  promises  of  God  and  the  grace  of  God  are  ex- 
tended to  all  the  world.  Under  the  gospel,  the  glory  of 
the  Saviour  is  seen,  and  the  power  of  the  Spirit  is  exem- 
plified in  the  conversion  and  sanctification  of  sinners.  It  is 
the  age  of  contest  and  struggle  between  the  powers  of 
darkness  and  of  light.  Does  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which 
is  the  word  of  God,  need  to  be  less  sharp  and  mighty  un- 
der the  gospel  than  under  the  law  ?  If,  then,  the  Old 
Testament  Scrij^tures  were  inspired,  much  more  shall  we 
find  inspiration  in  the  New. 

In  Matthew  x,  19,  Jesus  uttered  to  the  twelve  these 
remarkable  words  as  he  was  about  to  send  them  forth  to 
preach :  "  When  they  deliver  you  up,  take  no  thought  how  or 
what  ye  shall  speak :  for  it  shall  he  given  you  in  that  same 
hour  what  ye  shall  speak ;  for  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  hut 
the  Spirit  of  your  Father  which  speaketli  in  you"  They  are 
assured  that  the  Spirit  of  God  would  speak  through  them, 


II.]  THE  HOLY   SCRIPTURES.  37 

when  called  to  stand  before  kings  and  councils.  If  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  necessary  to  enable  the 
apostles  to  answer  before  kings,  how  much  more  necessa- 
ry was  it  that  it  should  be  in  the  written  word,  which  must 
stand  for  ever  as  God's  testimony  to  the  children  of  men ! 
If  God  inspired  the  words  which  the  apostles  should  speak 
before  synagogues  and  councils  for  their  personal  defense, 
how  much  more  should  they  be  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
when  the  whole  church  of  God  was  to  be  defended  against 
the  power  and  malice  of  Satan,  his  principalities,  his 
thrones  and  dominions ! 

That  the  writings  of  the  apostle  Paul  are  inspired,  and 
placed  upon  the  same  footing  as  those  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  appear  clearly  from  2  Pet.  iii,  15,  16:  "Even 
as  our  beloved  brother  Paul  also,  according  to  the  wisdom 
given  unto  him,  hath  written  unto  you ;  and  also  in  all  his 
epistles,  speaking  in  them  of  these  things  ;  in  which  are 
some  things  hard  to  be  understood,  which  they  that  are  un- 
learned and  unstable  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the  other 
Scriptures,  unto  their  own  destruction." 

The  apostle  Peter  therefore  recognizes  all  the  epistles 
of  Paul  as  on  the  same  footing  with  "  the  other  Scriptures" 
and,  consequently,  as  divinely  inspired. 

Paul  also  asserts  the  fact  of  his  own  inspiration  in  vari- 
ous passages,  as  1  Cor.  ii,  10,  12,  13,  and  Gal.  i,  11,  12. 

The  above  considerations,  and  Scriptural  arguments, 
seem  to  us  to  leave  no  room  to  doubt  the  plenary  inspira- 
tion of  what  the  apostles  wrote.  Indeed  the  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  generally,  like  those  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, proclaim  their  words  by  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

Some  writers  have  objected,  that  as  Mark  and  Luke 
were  not  apostles,  they  were  not  inspired.  But  this 
does  not  seem  at  all  probable,  since  these  men  were  com- 
panions of  the  apostles  for  more  than  thirty  years  after  the 
death  of  Christ.  Mark  was  the  companion  of  Peter,  and 
Luke  of  Paul,  in  their  journeys  and  trials.  Their  works 
too  were  composed  at  an  early  date  and  delivered  to  the 
churches.  If  they  had  not  had  a  good  and  sufficient  claim 
to  inspiration,  they  never  would  nor  could  have  been  re- 
ceived by  the  church  as  canonical  Scriptures.  Though 
they  were  not  apostles,  yet  they  were  sent  out  by  our  Lord 
in  the  number  of  the  seventy,  as  all  tradition  testifies.    Be- 


38  INSPIRATION  OF  [SER. 

sides,  were  they  not  endowed  with  miraculous  gifts  ?  Would 
the  apostles  have  traveled  from  place  to  place  with  these 
men  as  companions  in  order  to  communicate  to  others  these 
miraculous  gifts,  and  yet  not  confer  them  upon  their  be- 
loved and  holy  companions  in  the  work  of  the  gospel  ? 
This  cannot  be  supposed  or  believed.  The  early  church 
received  these  writings  without  controversy,  which  could 
not  have  been  the  case  had  not  their  claims  been  valid  as 
sacred  books. 

II.  We  pass  to  consider,  in  the  second  place,  some  ob- 
jections. 

Various  objections  have  been  raised  against  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  a  few  of  which  it  will  be 
proper  for  us  here  to  notice. 

1.  The  first,  and  one  which  is  frequently  in  the  mouths 
of  infidels,  is  that  there  are  contradictions  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  therefore  they  cannot  be  inspired.  A  few  in- 
stances we  will  give,  together  with  their  answers. 

(1.)  It  is  objected  that  Matthew  and  Luke  have  contra- 
dicted each  other  in  relating  the  genealogy  of  our  Saviour. 
The  answer  to  this  apparent  contradiction  between  the  two 
evangelists  is,  in  brief,  the  following.  Matthew  traces  the 
descent  of  Christ  through  the  line  of  Joseph  back  to  Da- 
vid ;  and  Luke  traces  his  descent  through  Mary,  his  mother, 
back  to  David.  Matthew  would  show  the  Jew  that  Christ 
was  son  and  heir  of  all  the  kings  of  Judah  by  a  legal  de- 
scent; while  Luke  would  show  the  Gentiles  his  natural 
descent.  Matthew  shows  his  lineage  through  Joseph  to 
Solomon;  and  Luke  through  Mary  to  Nathan,  another 
son  of  David.  Thus  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  which 
infidelity  can  bring  against  divine  inspiration  disappears  at 
once  before  the  touch  of  investigation. 

(2.)  It  is  objected  again  that  Matthew  and  Luke  have 
Matthew  says  that  '•  Judas  ivent  out  and  hung  himself f^ 
contradicted  each  other  in  the  account  of  the  death  of  Judas, 
and  in  Acts  i,  18,  it  is  said  that  ^'falling  headlong,  his  how- 
els  gushed  outr  Here  is  no  contradiction,  as  Dr.  Clarke 
has  plainly  shown.  There  are  two  circumstances  here 
related  in  tlie  death  of  Judas,  one  of  which  occurred  after 
the  other.  Judas  hung  himself;  and  then  wliat  could  have 
been  more  natural,  in  the  rocky  and  precipitous  neighbor- 
hood of  Jerusalem,  when  the  traitor  was  cut  down  or  fell 


II.]  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES.  B9 

down  from  liis  place  of  hanging,  than  that  his  bowels 
should  gush  out  ? 

(3.)  Again  it  is  objected,  that  Matthew  and  Mark  have 
contradicted  each  other  in  the  account  of  the  blind  men. 
Matthew  tells  us  (xx,  o)  that  "  two  blind  men  were  sitting 
hy  the  wayside"  &c. ;  while  Mark  (x,  46)  speaks  of  only 
one,  Bartimeus  the  son  of  Timeus.  It  requires  no  great 
penetration  to  see  that  here  is  no  contradiction.  Mark 
mentions  the  fact  of  only  one  blind  man,  while  Matthew 
speaks  of  another  who  was  in  his  company.  Matthew 
only  adds  to  what  Mark  declares,  but  an  addition  is  cer- 
tainly no  contradiction.  Other  examples  might  be  adduced 
of  this  kind  of  objections,  but  the  above  may  suffice  as  be- 
ing among  the  strongest  which  can  be  brought  forwai'd. 

2.  Another  class  of  objections  against  the  plenary  inspi- 
ration of  the  Scriptures  is  founded  on  the  imperfect  state 
of  the  text,  its  variations  in  the  reading  and  punctuations. 
It  is  said  if  the  original  manuscript  copies  were  inspired, 
still  the  present  copies  can  have  no  such  claim,  for  they 
have  been  transcribed,  and  are  so  much  altered  from  their 
originals,  that  many  thousands  of  variations  are  now  pointed 
out  and  recorded  between  the  diiferent  manuscripts.  In 
answer  to  this  objection, 

(1.)  Let  it  be  remembered,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  does 
not  apply  to  the  original  copies,  which  were  written  by  the 
hands  of  the  prophets  and  the  apostles.  How  far  it  applies 
to  our  copies  in  present  use  we  shall  see  presently. 

(2.)  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  also,  that  about  three- 
fourths  of  these  variations  are  not  variations  in  the  original 
text,  but  in  the  punctuations  and  glosses  which  have  crept 
into  the  text.  The  original  Hebrew  was  without  vowel 
jDoints  and  marks  of  punctuation.  The  original  Greek 
also  was  without  division  of  chapters,  verses,  and  words, 
and  therefore  all  the  variations  which  belong  to  these  mat- 
ters are  entirely  irrelevant  to  the  question  of  inspiration. 

(3.)  Let  it  be  further  remembered,  that  though  the  Old 
Testament  has  been  copied  for  thirty-three  centuries,  and 
the  New  Testament  for  eighteen  centuries,  a  watchful  Pro- 
vidence has  made  the  most  careful  provision  to  keep  them 
entire  and  inviolate.  It  was  the  business  of  the  tribe  of 
Levi  to  keep  and  copy  the  sacred  books ;  and  from  very 
early  ages  every  letter,  every  word,  and  every  paragraph, 


40  INSPIRATION  OP  [SER. 

of  the  sacred  books  was  numbe'red,  and  tlieir  numbers  re- 
main the  same  to  the  present  day.  The  Jews  have  always 
watched  over  their  sacred  books  with  the  greatest  care 
and  keenest  jealousy.  Every  letter  was  marshaled  into 
its  place,  and  portions  of  the  sacred  text  Avere  daily  re- 
viewed by  some  of  the  great  college  of  scribes.  It  was 
therefore  next  to  an  impossibility  that  a  letter  should  get 
out  of  its  place  or  be  lost  without  being  detected.  Fur- 
ther, if  a  manuscript  was  found  to  have  a  single  mistake  it 
was  thrown  aside  as  defiled,  or  committed  to  the  flames,  so 
that  no  false  copies  could  come  from  it  afterward. 

(4.)  We  should  remark  again,  that  if  in  the  course  of 
ages,  and  in  different  countries,  variations  or  additions  did 
creep  into  the  sacred  text,  they  are  mostly  the  substitu- 
tion of  one  letter  for  another  which  is  similar  in  form,  as  a 
vaw  for  a  yode,  which  as  a  general  thing  does  not  alter  the 
sense. 

(5.)  Again  we  would  remark,  that  though  there  is  doubt 
as  to  the  purity  of  some  words  or  clauses  of  the  sacred 
text,  yet  all  sound  critics  are  united  in  the  sentiment  that 
the  worst  copy  of  the  Scriptures  that  has  ever  been  found 
has  not  vitiated  one  single  important  doctrine  or  precept. 
The  great  body  of  the  text,  therefore,  being  pure  and  un- 
impaired, the  exceptions  being  few  and  far  between,  the 
doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  sacred  text  is  no  more 
affected  than  the  everlasting  truths  which  it  contains.  The 
body  of  the  sacred  text  is  preserved  to  us,  as  well  as  the 
body  of  sacred  truth;  a  few  human  and  corrupted  addi- 
tions may  have  been  made,  but  this  cannot  destroy  the 
truth  of  God  nor  the  sacred  text.  We  may  say  to  all, 
then,  as  the  pious  Bengel  said  to  his  pupil  Reuss :  "  Eat 
the  bread  of  the  Scriptures."  What  though  there  be  now 
and  then  a  grain  of  the  millstone  fallen  into  the  flour,  this 
does  not  destroy  the  bread.  Eat,  then,  the  bread  of  the 
Scriptures,  as  God's  own  word  by  which  we  may  live  for 
ever. 

3.  Another  objection  which  has  been  urged  against  ple- 
nary or  verbal  inspiration  is  founded  on  tfie  individuality 
of  the  sacred  ivriters.  It  is  said  that  the  personal  pecu- 
liarities of  the  writers,  and  even  their  infirmities,  are 
plainly  evident  in  their  writings:  as,  for  example,  the 
writings  of  Paul  are  deep,  abstruse,  and  argumentative; 


II.]  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTUReI.  41 

while  the  style  of  John  Is  simple,  clear,  and  hortatory.  The 
style  of  Matthew  and  John  is  Hebraistic,  and  their  Greek 
is  bad  and  full  of  orientalisms,  while  Luke  and  Paul,  being 
educated  men,  are  far  more  classic  and  correct.  This  ar- 
gument weighs  heavily  with  many  minds  against  verbal 
inspiration.  We  cannot,  however,  see  anything  so  formi- 
dable in  it  as  has  been  seen  by  others.  The  following  is 
our  answer : — 

(1.)  God  speaks  to  man  more  humano,  that  is,  after  the 
manner  of  men ;  and  hence  he  uses  human  language,  and, 
of  course,  human  language  with  its  imperfections.  If  God 
uses  human  language  in  communicating  with  men,  why 
may  he  not  use  the  peculiarities  of  certain  men,  as  the  se- 
raphic fire  of  Isaiah,  the  majesty  of  Ezekiel,  the  simplicity 
of  John,  or  the  logic  of  the  apostle  Paul,  to  communicate 
that  which  is  peculiarly  suited  to  each  one  to  communicate  ? 
It  is  indeed  no  more  than  we  should  expect,  that  God 
would  use  the  individuality  of  such  men  for  the  more  ready 
reception  of  his  truth  in  the  minds  of  men. 

The  human  mind  is  fond  of  variety,  and  a  subject  which 
awakens  thought  and  emotion  in  one  man  will  not  always 
do  it  in  another.  The  Bible  should  be  a  book  adapted  to 
the  human  mind :  and  such  a  book  it  is,  having  every  va- 
riety of  subject  and  every  variety  of  style,  calculated  to 
arouse,  to  enlighten,  and  elevate  the  human  mind  in  all  its 
varied  conditions.  If  then  the  Holy  Ghost  had  written  in 
one  uniform  style,  in  the  purest  style  of  Hebrew,  and  in 
the  purest  and  most  classic  Greek,  it  would  not  have  ac- 
complished its  object.  And  therefore  individuality  in  the 
writers  of  the  Serif) tures  inspired  by  the  Spirit  is  just  what 
we  might  expect. 

Other  objections  have  been  raised,  as  that  the  Scriptures 
are  hard  to  be  understood,  and  if  the  Holy  Ghost  had 
written  the  book  it  would  have  been  easy  of  comprehen- 
sion. But  may  not  the  difficulty  be  in  us  ?  We  may  not 
have  used  the  means  best  calculated  to  accomplish  this 
object.  Others  say  the  translations  are  not  inspired,  and 
therefore  the  doctrine  of  a  verbal  inspiration  is  of  no  prac- 
tical importance.  We  answer,  if  the  translations  are  not 
inspired,  yet  the  originals  are,  and  we  have  the  means  of 
reading  them  as  they  were  given  to  us  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Is  it  of  no  practical  importance  to  an  ambassador  to  a 


42  INSPIRATION   OF  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES.  [SER. 

foreign  court  to  be  able  to  prove  his  commission  by  origi- 
nal documents  ?  Of  how  much  greater  importance  that 
the  ambassador  from  God  to  a  wicked  world  should  be 
able  to  produce  and  read  his  instructions,  not  only  the 
translation,  but  the  original  documents  ? 

Thus,  we  think,  all  objections  to  this,  as  we  conceive, 
fundamentally  important  doctrine  of  our  holy  religion 
vanish  at  the  touch  of  investigation.  "  This  ivord  came 
not  of  old  hy  7nan,  or  hy  the  icill  of  man  ;  hut  holy  men  of 
God  spake  as  they  were  moved  hy  the  Holy  Ghosts 

INFERENCES. 

1 .  If  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  divinely  inspired,  human 
reason  ought  to  he  held  in  aheyance  to  their  teachinys.  There 
is  a  tendency  in  the  natural  mind  to  exalt  human  reason 
above  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  is  the  natural  tendency  of 
human  pride  and  self-sutRciency.  The  distinguishing  doc- 
trine of  French  infidelity  was  that  reason  alone  should  di- 
rect mankind,  and  the  awful  results  of  this  doctrine  in  the 
French  nation  is  a  matter  of  history.  Human  reason  is 
weak,  capable  of  seeing  but  a  short  way,  and  the  great 
subjects  of  revelation  are  utterly  above  its  unaided  com- 
prehension. Kevelation  is  founded  on  the  reason  and 
knowledge  of  God,  and  is  infinitely  above  that  of  men. 
Human  reason,  therefore,  must  be  an  humble  learner  in 
divine  things,  and  not  a  teacher  taking  the  place  of  God. 

2.  If  divinely  inspired,  they  tnust  teach  us  truth  without 
any  admixture  of  error.  This  is  a  most  consoling  truth, 
and  one  which  enhances  the  value  of  the  Bible  infinitely 
above  all  other  books.  All  other  books  are  human,  and 
of  course  adulterated  with  human  weaknesses ;  but  this 
book,  being  divine,  teaches  no  error,  but  truth  alone. 

o.  We  also  infer  that,  if  divinely  inspired,  they  contain 
a  sufficiency  of  truth  for  our  salvation.  The  works  of  God 
are  perfect.  None  of  his  works  are  imperfect,  or  fall  short 
of  their  design.  The  design  of  God  in  giving  us  his  law, 
is  that  our  souls  may  be  saved.  "  Let  my  soid  live,'^  saith 
the  Psalmist,  "  and  let  thy  judgments  help  meP  "  They  are 
profitable  for  doctrine,  for  correction,  and  instruction," 
says  the  apostle,  and  hence  their  entire  sufficiency  for  our 
spiritual  instruction  is  beyond  a  doubt. 

4.  We  also  infer  the  duty  of  yielding  ourselves  to  the 


IILj     NATURE,  CONDITION,  AND  DESTINATION  OF  MAN.     43 

guidance  of  the  Scriptures  in  all  matters  of  faith  and  prac' 
tice.  As  the  Scriptures  have  God  for  their  author,  and 
their  design  is  to  instruct  man  in  spiritual  knowledge  and 
in  religious  duty,  there  must  be  a  sufficiency  revealed  for 
our  faith  and  practice.  This  is  a  most  important  result  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  l^criptures. 
Were  they  human  compositions,  or  an  admixture  of  human 
reasonings  and  sayings  with  divine,  we  could  not  heartily 
yield  ourselves  to  them  in  all  matters  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice. But  they  are  divine,  and  exactly  adapted  by  the 
all-wise  Mind  "  to  make  the  man  of  God  perfect,  and  tho- 
roughly furnished  unto  all  good  works."  Let  us  then  re- 
ceive the  Bible  as  the  man  of  our  counsel  and  the  guide 
of  our  life,  and  it  will  assuredly  lead  us  to  a  happy  eternity. 


SERMON   III. 

Nature,  Condition,  and  Destination  of  Man. 

BY  REV.  HOMER  J.  CLARKE,  A.  M., 

PRESIDENT  OF  ALLEGANY  COLLEGE. 

"  What  is  man  ?"— Psalm  viii,  4. 

The  sentiment  which  dictated  the  text  is  admiration  and 
astonishment,  inspired  by  a  view  of  the  immensity  of  the 
works  of  creation.  The  contemplation  of  the  nocturnal 
heavens  is  calculated  to  awaken  in  the  mind  conceptions 
of  beauty  and  magnificence,  of  distance  and  magnitude,  be- 
yond any  other  subject.  From  this  exterior  display  of  the 
wealth  and  splendor  of  the  Author  of  the  universe,  the 
mind  is  led  to  contemplate  the  glories  of  his  being.  Its 
own  faculties  shrink  to  insignificance  when  thus  standing 
in  the  presence  of  powers,  vast  even  beyond  its  ability  to 
comprehend.  But  contemplating  human  nature  exclu- 
sively in  this  light  might  lead  us  to  a  wrong  estimate  of  its 
value.  For  though  it  would  seem  impossible  it  should 
claim  the  attention,  much  less-  the  regards,  of  one  so  ex- 
alted as  the  divine  Being,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  it 


44  NATUBE,  CONDITION,  AND  [SEK. 

does.  God  condescends  to  visit  man,  even  in  his  low 
estate,  fallen  and  degraded  by  sin. 

The  question  in  the  text  is  one  of  great  practical  import- 
ance, and  in  its  examination  we  shall  briefly  notice  the 
following  particulars :  man's  origin,  nature,  condition,  and 
destination. 

I.  The  nations  of  antiquity  all  pretend  to  some  tradition- 
ary account  respecting  the  origin  of  the  human  race,  though 
these  accounts  are,  in  many  of  their  particulars,  discordant, 
puerile,  and  irrational.  Men  were  supposed  at  first  either 
to  have  sprung  from  the  earth,  like  plants,  or  from  some  in- 
animate substance,  or  from  the  lower  animals  ;  a  few  only, 
entertaining  juster  views  of  the  dignity  of  man's  nature, 
believed  him  descended  from  the  gods. 

The  knowledge  on  this  subject,  possessed  anciently  by 
the  Jews,  and  since  by  all  Christian  nations,  is  contained 
in  the  writings  of  Moses.  His  account  is  more  perfect 
and  credible  than  that  of  other  ancient  traditions,  though  in 
some  things  it  agrees  with  them.  From  him  we  learn  that 
the  human  race  sprung  from  a  single  pair ;  that  this  origi- 
nal pair  received  their  being,  not  in  the  way  of  natural  de- 
scent, but  from  the  creative  power  of  God.  This  doctrine 
of  the  common  origin  of  the  human  race,  of  identity  of  na- 
ture amidst  all  the  varieties  of  color  and  form  which  so 
strikingly  characterize  the  inhabitants  of  different  portions 
of  the  globe,  is  maintained  by  St.  Paul,  who  says,  God 
"  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,  to  dwell  on 
all  the  face  of  the  earth."  He  hath  also  "  determined  the 
times  before  appointed"  for  their  dispersion  into  the  dif- 
ferent countries  they  inhabit,  and  "  fixed  there  the  bounds 
of  their  habitations."  This  doctrine  of  one  blood,  of  one 
race,  so  clearly  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  is  not  less  clearly 
the  doctrine  of  reason  and  philosophy,  despite  the  pre- 
tended objections  of  infidels.  All  objections  against  the 
identity  of  the  human  race  are  founded  either  in  ignorance 
or  prejudice,  as  might  be  conclusively  shown  by  a  reference 
to  facts. 

The  practical  bearings  of  this  doctrine  are  numerous 
and  important.  It  has  an  intimate  connection  with  the 
leading  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  as  the  doctrine  of  inherited 
corruption  and  the  atonement  of  Christ.  If  mankind  uni- 
versally have  not  the  same  parentage,  are  not  descended 


III.]  DESTINATION   OF   MAN.  45 

from  the  same  original  pair  whose  history  we  have  re- 
corded in  the  book  of  Genesis,  who  will  undertake  to  trace 
the  line  of  their  descendants  after  the  revolutions  of  ages 
have  destroyed  the  records  of  nations  and  families ;  after 
the  operation  of  almost  numberless  causes,  during  a  period 
of  more  than  five  thousand  years,  to  amalgamate  and  utterly 
confound  the  different  races  of  men  ?  Yet  it  is  to  their 
descendants  only  that  the  doctrines  of  the  fall,  of  depra- 
vity, and  of  redemption,  relate.  Nay,  it  is  to  them  only 
that  the  gospel  is  to  be  preached ;  that  the  system  of  reve- 
lation refers,  in  its  threatenings  and  promises,  its  require- 
ments and  provisions.  The  opinion  which,  on  account  of 
certain  complexional  differences,  intellectual  or  physical, 
would  destroy  the  identity  of  the  human  race,  does  thus 
manifestly  overthrow  the  gospel,  while,  as  we  confess,  it 
aims  merely  to  disfranchise  a  particular  portion  of  the 
race  ;  to  exclude,  it  may  be,  a  single  branch  of  the  great 
family  of  man  from  the  rights  and  privileges  of  fraternity. 
We  repeat,  the  practical  bearings  of  this  doctrine  are  im- 
portant. It  teaches  us  to  regard  every  man  as  our  brother ; 
that  the  American  Indian,  though  wild  and  uncultivated  as 
the  savage  beasts  which  he  pursues  in  the  chase  ;  the  Af- 
rican negro,  in  the  kraal  of  his  native  land,  degraded  by 
superstition  and  ignorance,  or  transported  to  more  favored 
climes,  where,  reduced  to  hopeless  and  heartless  servitude, 
he  toils  like  a  beast  of  burden,  and  like  one  perishes,  ig- 
norant of  his  origin  and  destination ;  the  Laplander,  seek- 
ing shelter  from  the  frozen  breath  of  his  inhospitable  cli- 
mate with  the  quadruped  in  his  subterraneous  dwelling, 
and,  till  enlightened  by  the  labors  of  the  Christian  mission- 
ary, exhibiting  few  of  the  distinguishing  attributes  of  hu- 
man nature ;  in  a  word,  it  teaches  that  man,  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, ignorant,  degraded,  and  miserable,  though  he  be, 
has  still  a  claim  on  our  sympathies  and  benevolent  regards — 
is  to  be  embraced  in  the  arms  of  a  universal  brotherhood. 
We  are  to  respect  his  rights,  to  promote  his  happiness ;  in 
all  things  to  regulate  our  conduct  toward  him  by  the  di- 
vine maxim,  "  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  others  should  do 
unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them,  for  this  is  the  law  and 
the  prophets." 

II.  What  is  man  in  his  nature  ?     We  read  that  man  was 
created  from  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  inspiration 


46  NATURE,  CONDITION,  AND  [SER. 

of  the  Almighty  gave  him  understanding.  The  Scriptures 
uniformly  represent  man  as  a  complex  being ;  comprising 
in  his  nature  that  which  is  material  and  that  which  is 
spiritual.  And  this  agrees  with  the  general  opinion  of 
mankind,  as  is  evinced,  not  only  from  books  professedly 
written  on  the  subject,  and  from  the  sentiments  of  the  po- 
ets, but  from  the  structure  of  language,  from  terms  found 
in  all  languages  distinguishing  the  corporeal  from  the  men- 
tal in  man,  the  material  from  the  thinking  principle.  Still, 
some  have  maintained  the  doctrine  of  one  principle  only, 
and  that  man  is  wholly  a  material  being.  Others,  after 
some  of  the  ancient  pliilosophers,  contend  that  human  na- 
ture embraces  three  distinct  principles,  and,  for  authority, 
quote  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  in  his  prayer  for  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  "  And  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit,  and  soul,  and 
body,  be  preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  But  this  reasoning  is  inconclusive,  as  this 
language  is  unusual  with  the  apostle,  and  will  readily  admit 
of  a  different  explanation.  The  repetition  of  terms  which 
he  here  uses  may  only  express  the  ardor  of  his  mind,  the 
deep  interest  he  felt  in  the  w^elfare  of  those  who  had  been 
converted  through  his  ministry ;  or,  the  terms  spirit  and 
soul  may  distinguish  different  properties  only  of  the  same 
substance. 

What  is  the  internal  or  essential  nature  of  the  soul,  is  a 
question  difficult,  or  rather  impossible,  to  be  determined. 
The  Bible  does  not  decide  it,  and  philosophy  cannot  reach 
it.  Tlie  Bible  merely  distinguishes  between  the  soul  and 
body  as  substances  exhibiting  different  powers  and  opera- 
tions, but  determines  nothing  in  regard  to  the  essential  na- 
ture of  either.  Revelation  was  given  to  teach  mankind 
practical  truths,  not  metaphysical  subtilties.  The  meta- 
physical ideas  of  modern  philosophers,  respecting  the  im- 
materiality of  the  soul,  were  not  known  anciently,  either  to 
the  Jews  or  the  heathen.  In  their  estimation  all  moving 
bodies  were  animated  by  a  si)irit,  which,  though  corporeal, 
differed  from  gross  matter,  and  was  expressed  by  allusions 
to  matter  in  its  most  subtil  and  etherealized  forms. 

The  Bible  manifestly  contradicts  gross  materialism, 
which  would  reduce  the  human  soul  to  a  mere  accident  of 
matter.  Such  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Sadducees  in  the 
time  of  our  Lord,  and  such,  in  our  own  time,  is  the  opinion 


III.]  DESTINATION   OF  MAN.  4? 

of  some  who  profess  to  receive  their  ideas  from  the  Bible. 
But  vain  and  fruitless  must  be  every  effort  to  establish  this 
doctrine  on  the  authority  of  the  sacred  writings.  Materi- 
alism is  the  doctrine  of  infidelity,  usually  of  infidelity  in  its 
broadest  form — atheism.  It  has  no  sympathy  with  the 
gospel,  which  teaches  the  imperishable  nature  as  well  as 
infinite  value  of  the  soul.  Materialism  teaches  that  the 
soul  is  corruptible  like  the  body,  that  they  perish  together 
in  the  grave ;  that  immortaUty,  the  only  unfailing  friend 
of  virtue,  is  but  a  fable,  invented  by  designing  men  to  ope- 
rate upon  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  vulgar.     It 

"  Hangs  out  death  in  one  eternal  night ! 
A  night  that  glooms  lis  in  the  noontide  ray, 
And  wraps  our  thought,  at  banquets,  in  the  shroud." 

But,  while  the  Bible  is  opposed  to  gross  materialism,  both 
in  its  letter  and  spirit,  it  does  not,  as  already  intimated, 
teach  the  modern  doctrine  respecting  the  nature  of  the  soul 
— that  matter  and  mind,  in  their  essential  nature,  are  so 
utterly  diverse  as  to  possess  nothing  in  common,  no  re- 
sembling features.  Now  this  in  fact  may  be  all  true. 
Some  great  and  learned  men  have  declared  it  to  be  as  de- 
monstrable as  any  mathematical  proposition.  This  is  not 
what  we  deny.  We  only  deny  that  these  distinctions  are 
found  in  the  Bible.  Nor  are  we  willing  to  admit  that  the 
proofs  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  have  any  necessary 
dependence  on  their  truth.  Yet  it  Avas  in  consequence  of 
such  a  dependence  having  been  alledged  by  Hobbes,  and 
afterward  by  other  infidel  writers,  tliat  it  was  thought  ne- 
cessary, in  order  to  prevent  the  triumphs  of  infidelity,  to 
build  up  an  imaginary  breach  in  the  impregnable  bulwarks 
of  Christianity,  by  alledging  and  maintaining  these  distinc- 
tions. Just  as  if  the  perpetuity  of  all  derived  existence, 
whether  angel  or  insect,  whatever  be  its  internal  constitu- 
tion, does  not  depend  on  the  will  of  the  Creator.  Had  we 
no  prospect  of  an  existence  beyond  the  grave  but  what  we 
derive  from  the  light  reflected  from  such  doubtful  specu- 
lations, we  might  readily  accord  to  them  a  higher  charac- 
ter for  importance  than  we  do  at  present.  But  we  have 
a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy.  I  would  give  more  for 
one  plain  declaration  of  the  Bible  on  which  to  build  my 
hopes  of  immortality,  than  for  all  the  reasonings  of  all  the 


48  NATURE,   CONDITION,  AND  [SER. 

philosophers,  who  have  hved  and  speculated  since  the  in- 
vention of  letters.  It  is  not  philosophy,  it  is  not  the  be- 
wildered speculations  of  human  reason,  but  the  glorious  gos- 
pel of  the  Son  of  God,  which  has  brought  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light.  This  pours  a  divine  illumination  along  the 
pathway  of  dying  mortals  and  gilds  the  tomb.  This  de- 
prives death  of  its  sting,  robs  the  grave  of  its  victory,  and 
opens  to  the  enraptured  vision  of  Christian  faith  the  scenes 
of  a  blessed  and  undying  existence. 

"What  is  man  in  his  condition  ?  Man's  primitive  condi- 
tion could  not  have  been  marred  by  imperfections  arising 
from  external  causes.  He  knew  nothing  of  age  and  its  in- 
firmities, of  disease  and  its  revolting  and  heart-rending 
scenes — the  pain,  the  emaciated  form,  and  the  mortal 
agony.  He  enjoyed  never-failing  youth  and  vigor ;  man- 
hood in  the  perfection  of  its  strength  and  beauty.  Placed 
in  the  midst  of  an  earthly  paradise — 

•'  With  royal  honor  and  with  glory  crown'd, 
Adam,  the  lord  of  all,  majestic  walk'd, 
With  godlike  countenance  sublime,  and  form 
Of  lofty  towering  strength ;  and  by  his  side 
Eve,  fair  as  the  morning  star,  with  modesty 
AiTayxl,  with  virtue,  grace,  and  perfect  love  : 
In  holy  marriage  wed,  and  eloquent 
Of  thought  and  comely  words,  to  worship  God 
And  sing  his  praise,  the  gi^-er  of  all  good  : 
Glad,  in  each  other  glad,  and  glad  in  hope ; 
Rejoicing  in  their  future  happy  race." 

The  physical  and  social  happiness  of  our  first  parents 
was  heightened  by  the  influence  of  external  causes ;  the 
salubrity  of  the  atmosphere,  the  genial  nature  of  the  cli- 
mate, and  the  harmony  of  outward  objects  with  the  consti- 
tution of  the  senses,  rendering  them  an  exhaustless  foun- 
tain of  delightful  emotions.     The  earth, 

'•  Created  first  so  lovely,  so  adorn'd 
With  hill,  and  dale,  and  laAvn,  and  winding  vale, 
Woodland,  and  stream,  and  lake,  and  rolling  seas, 
Green  mead,  and  fruitful  tree,  and  fertile  grain, 
And  herb  and  flower ;  so  lovely,  so  adoru'd 
With  numerous  beasts  of  every  kind,  with  fowl 
Of  every  wing  and  everj^  tuneful  note, 
And  widi  all  fish  that  in  the  multitude 
Of  waters  swam  :  so  lovely,  so  adorn'd, 
So  fit  a  dwelling  place  for  man,  that  as 


III.]  DESTINATION    OF    MAN.  ^9 

She  rose,  complete,  at  the  creating  word. 
The  morning  stars,  the  sons  of  God,  aloud 
Shouted  for  joy ;  and  God,  beholding,  saw 
well  pleased." 

The  question  is  often  asked,  Would  man,  had  he  not  fallen, 
have  continued  in  his  present  "  dwelling-place "  for  ever  ? 
The  question,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  one  rather  of  doubt- 
ful speculation  than  of  practical  utility ;  it  is,  therefore, 
the  less  to  be  regretted  that  the  Scriptures  are  silent  on  the 
subject.  Some  suppose,  however,  that  an  exiDression  of 
St.  Paul,  if  attentively  considered,  is  calculated  to  throw 
light  upon  this  obscure  question.  "  Behold,"  says  he,  "  I 
show  you  a  mystery ;  we  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  be 
changed,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the 
last  trump ;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall 
be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be  changed."  Now  it 
is  thought,  had  man  retained  his  primitive  character  with- 
out change,  had  he  not  fallen,  when  the  world's  probation- 
ary period  had  expired,  he  would  have  experienced  a 
change  analogous  to  that  here  predicted  of  the  last  genera- 
tion of  men,  whereby  he  would  have  been  fitted  for  enter- 
ing into  a  state  purely  spiritual  and  unchanging.  "  For  flesh 
and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God" — that  is,  the 
kingdom  which  he  hath  prepared  for  his  glorified  saints. 

It  may  not  be  impertinent  here  to  remark,  that  man's 
first  employment  was  agriculture,  an  invariable  characteris- 
tic of  a  state  of  civilization.  From  which  it  is  reasonable  to 
infer,  that  this  was  his  original  condition,  and  that  the  bar- 
barous and  savage  states,  the  present  condition  of  a  vast 
majority  of  our  race,  so  far  from  being  natural,  are  op- 
posed to  the  manifest  design  of  Providence  in  man's  crea- 
tion, and  have  resulted  from  the  long-continued  operation 
of  causes  both  moral  and  physical. 

What  was  man's  original  mental  character,  is  a  question 
involved  in  obscurity.  We  cannot  tell  how  far  the  first 
pair  excelled  their  degenerate  offspring  in  the  strength  of 
their  intellectual  faculties.  They  received,  however,  from 
the  Creator,  reason,  as  all  their  other  faculties,  not  in  a 
state  of  infantile  weakness,  but  capable  of  immediate  and 
efficient  exercise.  And,  unsullied  in  innocence  and  virtue, 
they  must  have  been  free  from  those  principles  of  evil  per- 
taining to  fallen  human  nature,  which  operate  with  such 


50  NATURE,   CONDITION,  AND  [SER. 

energy,  darkening  the  intellectual  as  well  as  moral  vision, 
and  retarding  advancement  in  useful  knowledge.  They 
felt  not  the  influence  of  inordinate  bodily  appetites,  nor  of 
prejudice  and  vicious  habits.  The  slow,  vegetative  process, 
by  which,  at  present,  even  the  purest  and  brightest  intel- 
lects acquire  knowledge  and  strength,  must,  therefore,  be 
very  unlike  the  rapid  and  vigorous  movements  of  mind  in 
its  primitive  state.  Besides,  it  should  not  be  forgotten, 
that,  prior  to-his  first  disobedience,  man  was  permitted  to 
hold  familiar  converse  with  the  Creator.  "  He  talked  with 
his  Maker  face  to  face,  as  a  man  would  talk  with  his  friend." 
A^Tiat  knowledge,  what  elevation  of  the  faculties,  must 
have  been  the  fruit  of  this  divine  intercourse !  Still,  we 
have  no  direct  means  of  comparing  the  intellectual  charac- 
ter of  our  first  parents  with  that  of  their  descendants. 

In  regard  to  man's  original  moral  state,  we  may  speak 
with  greater  confidence  than  of  either  his  physical  or  intel- 
lectual. The  understanding,  like  an  incorruptible  judge, 
was  free  from  all  influences  that  might  prevent  its  right 
and  truthfld  exercise  ;  conscience,  like  a  vigilant  and  trusty 
sentinel,  was  quick  to  discern,  and  faithful  to  report,  the 
most  distant  approaches  of  moral  evil ;  while  the  will,  as 
a  faithful  executive,  instantly  accomplished  what  had  been 
determined  by  the  reason  and  moral  faculty.  Like  inno- 
cent and  virtuous  children,  our  first  parents  found  their 
greatest  happiness  in  conforming  to  the  will  of  their 
heavenly  Father,  whom  they  loved  with  supreme  aflTection. 
Hence  the  Saviour  presents  for  our  imitation  the  example 
of  little  children ;  their  simplicity  and  purity  of  intention, 
their  unbounded  confidence,  their  meekness  and  aflection, 
and  their  ready  and  cheerful  submission  and  obedience. 
And  such  is  the  character  of  the  true  Christian — of  all 
who,  through  the  gospel,  have  been  made  partakers  of  the 
divine  nature. 

Hitherto,  in  looking  at  human  condition,  we  have  con- 
sidered man  only  as  he  came  from  the  hand  of  his  Maker, 
uncontaminated,  and  unaltered  by  sin.  If  we  would  con- 
template man  in  his  present  condition,  we  must  look  at  a 
different  picture. 

— "  Short,  alas,  tlie  song  that  sings  our  bliss  ! 
Henceforth  the  liistory  of  man  grows  dark ! 
Shade  after  shade  of  deepening  gloom  descends, 


III.J  DESTINATION    OF  MAN.  51 

And  innocence  laments  her  rules  defiled. 

Who  further  sings  must  change  the  pleasant  tune 

To  heavy  notes  of  wo." 

How  changed  his  physical  condition !  Instead  of  a  life 
extending  from  age  to  age,  full  of  fruition  and  full  of  hope, 
looking  forward  to  an  interminable  duration  of  growing 
strength  and  enjoyment,  "  man  that  is  born  of  a  woman  is 
of  few  days,  and  full  of  trouble.  He  cometh  forth  as  the 
flower,  and  is  cut  down ;  he  fleeth  also  as  the  shadow,  and 
continueth  not."  He  is  subject  to  toil,  hardships,  and  pri- 
vations ;  to  disease,  pain,  and  death.  Nor  has  his  physical 
condition  alone  experienced  this  direful  change ;  his  intel- 
lectual and  moral  natures  are  not  less  involved  in  the  ruin 
of  the  fall.  Disarrayed  of  their  primitive  glory  and  per- 
fection, they  have  sunken  into  weakness  and  disorder,  have 
lost  their  original  supremacy,  and,  without  divine  assistance, 
necessarily  fail  to  accomplish  the  great  end  of  a  rational 
nature.  The  reason  is  obscured  and  obstructed  in  its  ope- 
rations, by  the  influence  of  the  passions.  The  moral  con- 
stitution fails  of  its  design,  not  only  through  ignorance  and 
the  stormy  power  of  the  passions,  l)ut  sometimes  through  a 
hardened  insensibility  to  duty; — as  where  obligation  is 
clearly  seen  and  acknowledged,  but  neither  felt  nor  regarded. 
In  this  case,  volition  follows  the  inferior  desires,  a  sacrilegious 
usurpation  subverts  the  divine  order  of  the  soul,  and  "  the 
temple  of  the  living  God  is  turned  into  a  den  of  thieves  !" 
That  such  is  man's  present  intellectual  and  moral  condition, 
is  matter  of  individual  and  universal  experience,  and  is, 
moreover,  confirmed  by  all  history  and  observation.  This 
melancholy  fact  was  conceded  and  deplored  by  the  wiser 
and  more  considerate  among  the  heathen.  That  it  is  not 
the  result  of  the  influence  of  early  example  and  education, 
is  manifest  from  this,  that  the  mind  often  decides  in  oppo- 
sition to  both  these,  when  enforced  by  every  motive  of 
truth,  duty,  and  interest.  It  is  therefore  false  to  assert, 
that  in  order  to  secure  the  will,  it  is  only  necessary  to  en- 
lighten the  understanding.  The  language  of  the  apostle, 
when  describing  the  condition  of  the  mind,  first  enhghtened 
by  divine  truth  to  see  itself  surrounded  by  the  horrors  of 
guilt,  without  power  of  escape,  is  not  the  language  of  an 
individual,  uttering  his  solitary  complaint,  groaning  over 
an  inward  misery  with  which  others  are  unable  to  sympa- 


52  NATURE,   CONDITION,   AND  [SER. 

thize,  because  without  a  similar  experience  ; — it  is  the  lan- 
guage of  fallen  human  nature,  strugghng  like  a  captive 
with  his  chains  which  he  cannot  break,  and  sighing  for  a 
deliverance  wliich  he  sees  not.  Who  has  not  felt  at  some 
period  of  his  accountable  existence — 1  care  not  under  what 
favorable  circumstances,  in  respect  to  instruction  and  train- 
ing, his  childhood  has  been  past — who  has  not  felt  the 
consciousness  of  that  inward  moral  condition,  that  worse 
than  Egyptian  bondage,  that  slavery  of  the  soul  to  vice, 
which  has  forced  upon  him  the  hnmihating  confession,  "  The 
thing  that  I  do,  I  allow  not ;  I  find  a  law  in  my  members, 
warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  bringing  me  into  cap- 
tivity to  the  law  of  sin  and  death  ?"  Place  a  hearing  and 
an  understanding  ear  where  you  please  among  the  dwell- 
ings of  men,  civilized  or  savage.  Christian  or  heathen,  and 
it  shall  become  a  witness  to  this  spontaneous  confession  of 
the  human  heart.  Man,  therefore,  as  at  present  found  in 
all  countries  and  climates,  and  under  every  allotment  of 
Providence,  is  bound  by  a  moral  condition,  fearful  in  its 
nature  and  tendency,  dependent  on  no  outward  circum- 
stances, and  from  which  he  has  no  power  to  release  himself. 
The  language  of  the  truly  awakened  heart  is,  "  O  wretched 
man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death  ?" — language  betokening  either  flat  despair,  or  hope 
looking  only  to  the  possibility  of  deliverance  from  some 
unknown  power.  Such,  at  least,  must  be  the  import  of 
this  language,  when  uttered  by  one  entirely  ignorant  of 
the  gospel.  And  0 !  how  joyful  to  the  self-convicted, 
heart-broken,  and  despairing  sinner,  must  be  the  apostle's 
answer,  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord  " — that  is,  that  through  him  deliverance  can  be  ob- 
tained. 

Which  leads  us  to  notice  the  important  change  in  man's 
moral  condition,  through  the  introduction  of  the  gospel. 
Without  the  gospel  there  would  settle  down  over  all  his 
prospects  of  the  future  the  darkness  of  absolute  despair. 
For  as  the  eye  of  imagination  could  scan  the  illimitable 
fields  of  future  duration,  he  would  behold  them  peopled 
only  with  the  formidable  ministers  of  divine  justice,  pre- 
paring for  him  scenes  of  unending  and  unmitigated 
misery  ; — a  condition,  reducing  the  proud  lord  of  this  lower 
■world  to  the  most  pitiable  object  on  the  face  of  it,  com- 


III.]  DESTINATION   OF  MAN.  5^ 

pared  to  whom  the  meanest  reptile  would  become  an  ob- 
ject of  envy,  looking  forward  to  a  destiny  infinitely  to  be 
desired.  But,  thanks  to  redeeming  grace,  this  is  not  man's 
condition ;  he  has  been  freed  from  it  by  "  one  mighty  to 
save,  and  strong  to  deliver." 

"  God  was  made  flesh, 
And  dwelt  with  man  on  earth !  the  Son  of  God, 
Only  begotten  and  dearly  beloved,  between 
Man  and  his  Father's  justice  interposed ; 
And  in  their  name  sutfer'd,  obey'd,  and  died, 
Making  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin." 

In  consequence  of  this  divine  offering  for  sin,  man, 
though  still  guilty  and  condemned,  has  been  brought  within 
the  reach  of  mercy  and  hope ;  rendered  capable  of  reco- 
vering his  lost  purity  and  innocence,  and  attaining  to  ever- 
lasting felicity.  Arrayed  in  the  righteousness  of  gospel 
faith,  he  may,  without  fear,  listen  to  the  awakened  thunder 
of  a  broken  law,  or  enter  into  the  presence  of  his  omnipo- 
tent Judge ;  because  he  has  secured  the  friendship  of  one, 
*who,  in  his  stead,  has  fulfilled  to  the  last  tittle  the  demands 
of  the  law,  and  made  it  honorable. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  particular  in  our  discourse, 
namely,  What  is  man  in  his  destination  ?  This  question 
may  be  considered  in  a  twofold  light,  having  reference  to 
man  as  an  inhabitant  of  this  world,  and  as  an  expectant  of 
the  next. 

The  knowledge  and  feelings  of  right  and  wrong,  found 
in  connection  with  the  earliest  developments  of  reason, 
prove  man  possessed  of  a  moral  nature,  in  the  cultivation 
and  perfection  of  which  consists  his  supreme  good.  It  has 
been  said,  with  great  truth,  that  "  the  chief  end  of  man  is 
to  glorify  God  and  enjoy  him  for  ever."  But  how  is  a 
creature,  so  limited  in  faculties  and  resources,  to  glorify 
God,  a  being  infinitely  exalted  above  all  he  has  made,  glo- 
rious in  character  and  in  external  condition,  whose  sceptre 
is  an  everlasting  sceptre,  and  of  whose  dominion  there  is 
no  end  ?  He  can  add  nothing  to  the  perfections  of  an  in- 
finite nature,  to  the  grandeur  of  a  boundless  empire,  or  to 
a  blessedness  whose  overflowings  reach  the  extremities  of 
the  universe,  and  satisfy  the  desires  of  all  the  living.  But, 
though  he  has  not  power  to  create  an  attribute  or  circum- 
stance, which  could  invest  the  divine  nature  with  a  higher 


54  NATURE,   CONDITION,   AND  [SEE- 

intrinsic  glory,  lie  has  power  to  bring  it  more  within  the 
sphere  of  his  own  thoughts  and  affections,  and  to  increase 
toward  it  the  respect,  love,  and  veneration  of  others.  And 
in  doing  this,  he  manifestly  fulfills  the  design  of  his  crea- 
tion. He  honors  the  Creator,  and,  to  the  extent  of  his 
power,  promotes  the  true  happiness  of  his  fellow-crea- 
tures. Were  all  inspired  with  similar  dispositions,  and  to 
adopt  similar  conduct,  all  Avould  be  speedily  restored  to 
favor  and  communion  with  God,  and  brought  to  obey  those 
laws  on  which  their  perfection  and  supreme  happiness  de- 
pend. So  that,  to  know,  love,  and  obey  God,  to  bear  his 
image,  to  be  made  a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature,  by  re- 
sembling it  in  our  moral  character,  is  doubtless  the  chief 
end  of  man,  whereby  he  glorifies  God,  and  is  prepared  to 
enjoy  him  for  ever.  And  here  we  perceive  the  connec- 
tion of  the  gospel  with  man's  destination.  It  has  removed 
an  impassable  barrier,  which  otherwise  must  have  for  ever 
prevented  his  return  and  reconciliation  to  God.  It  pro- 
vides for  his  moral  renovation,  without  which  there  could 
be  no  union  with  God,  and  no  moral  advancement.  It  pro- 
vides for  his  ceaseless  and  illimitable  growth  in  holiness, 
and  commands  that,  leaving  the  first  principles  of  the  doc- 
trines of  Christ,  he  go  on  to  perfection — to  this  perfection 
of  virtue,  and  consequently  of  bliss. 

No  one  can  fulfill  his  destination  in  this  life  who  lives 
to  himself  alone.  He  must  live  chiefly  for  the  good  of 
others  ;  to  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked,  administer 
consolation  to  the  sick  and  the  sufi'ering,  and  bring  back 
the  wanderer  to  the  paths  of  truth,  duty,  and  peace.  This 
is  clearly  indicated  by  his  social  constitution  ;  and  in  thus 
fulfilling  the  intentions  of  his  nature,  he  obeys  the  second 
great  command  of  the  gospel,  "  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self." Nay,  the  gospel  inspires  a  universal  benevolence, 
breathing  good-will,  not  only  to  man,  but  to  every  crea- 
ture, however  low  in  the  scale  of  existence,  capable  of  de- 
riving benefit  from  its  exercise. 

The  design  of  the  present  life,  therefore,  requires,  as  the 
great  and  paramount  duty,  this  improvement  of  our  ration- 
al nature  ;  that  we  aspire  to  intellectual  and  moral  excel- 
lence, and  in  all  our  intercourse  with  our  fellow-men,  and 
in  all  our  treatment  of  the  inferior  creatures,  that  we  be 
actuated  by  kind  and  benevolent  affections. 


III.]  DESTINATION   OF  MAN.  55' 

Man's  present  and  future  destination  do  not  at  all  differ 
in  nature.  In  securing  the  true  interests  of  this  life,  in  the 
right  use  and  enjoyment  of  its  blessings,  we  are  making 
the  best  preparation  for  happiness  in  the  life  to  come.  So, 
when  our  attention  is  most  earnestly  and  exclusively  di- 
rected to  provide  for  the  wants  of  our  future  being,  we  are 
not  thereby  neglecting  our  present  happiness,  but,  in  fact, 
are  doing  the  very  best  we  can  to  promote  it.  The  prin- 
ciples of  our  constitution  are  arranged  in  view  of  the  whole 
extent  of  its  duration.  And  as  duty  and  interest  cannot 
conflict  with  one  another,  so  at  different  periods  they  cannot 
conflict  with  themselves.  In  the  present  life  there  is  no 
peace  to  the  wicked ;  their  mind  is  "  like  the  troubled  sea 
when  it  cannot  rest," — tossed  and  torn  by  the  tempest  of 
contending  passions.  Without  holiness  no  man  can  see 
the  Lord.  Holiness  is  the  great  law  of  our  nature,  from 
the  influence  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  escape  at  any  mo- 
ment of  our  existence,  however  we  might  desire  it.  Hate 
it  as  we  may,  eschew  it  as  we  may,  it  has  a  mastery  over 
us  which  it  will  maintain  for  ever,  meting  out  to  us  a  just 
retribution — 

"  While  life,  or  thought,  or  being  lasts, 
Or  immortality  endures." 

There  is  a  necessary  and  unalterable  connection  between 
the  happiness  of  the  soul  and  its  moral  condition.  In  this 
respect,  "  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also 
reap."  As  a  life  of  virtue  leads  to  eternal  blessedness,  so 
a  life  of  sin  leads  to  eternal  misery,  by  a  law  of  our  nature. 
"Man,"  as  one  very  justly  remarks,  "is  happy,  not  in 
proportion  to  what  he  has,  but  what  he  is."  Happiness,  in 
this  sense,  is  not  a  possession,  but  a  condition.  It  consists 
not  in  riches,  honors,  or  external  circumstances  of  any 
kind.  It  is  not  to  be  sought  without,  but  within.  This  is 
a  universal  truth,  applicable  to  all  intelligent  natures  ;  and 
not  less  to  man's  present,  than  to  his  future,  existence. 
Future  blessedness  is  but  the  continuation  and  perfection 
of  that  which  commences  here,  depending  on  intellectual 
and  moral  character — on  elevation  of  mind  and  purity  of 
heart.  The  same  simple  and  sublime  truth  is  beautifully 
and  forcibly  expressed  in  the  lines  of  the  poet :  "  The  mind 
is  its  own  place ;  can  make  heaven  of  hell,  or  hell  of 
heaven." 


56  DEATH THE   WAGES   OF   SIN.  [SER. 

In  conclusion,  do  you,  my  hearers,  constantly  live  in 
view  of  your  present  and  final  destination  ?  Have  you  re- 
flected that  to  secure  your  well-being  here  and  hereafter, 
you  must  conform  to  the  will  of  the  Creator,  as  made 
known,  not  only  through  the  higher  tendencies  of  your  na- 
ture, but  by  his  revealed  word  ?  Have  you  further  con- 
sidered, that  the  destinies  of  your  being  include  a  wider 
range  than  the  brief  history  of  the  present  world  ?  Stretch- 
ing away  into  infinity,  far  beyond  our  limited  conceptions, 
they  settle  amid  scenes  of  retribution,  unalterable  and  en- 
during as  the  nature  of  the  soul,  and  corresponding  to  its 
moral  character.  To  fail  in  securing  the  end  of  your  be- 
ing, does  not  imply  merely  the  loss  of  a  blessing,  the  de- 
privation of  a  forfeited  good,  but  positive  infliction,  the  in- 
curring absolute,  infinite  evil.  Man's  destination  is  that 
of  a  moral  and  accountable  being,  looking  forward  to  a 
day  of  reckoning,  and  beyond  it,  to  the  final  and  everlast- 
ing issues  of  the  judgment.  If  you  meet  and  discharge 
your  responsibilities,  fulfilling  the  obligations  of  the  gos- 
pel, by  repentance  and  faith,  and  a  life  of  holiness,  your 
present  being,  fallen  and  degraded  as  it  is,  compassed  about 
by  manifold  infirmities  and  sorrows,  shall  issue  in  a  glorious 
state  of  perfection  and  bliss,  such  as  in  this  world  eye  hath 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  heart  conceived.  But,  if  you 
fail,  there  then  awaits  you  beyond  the  grave,  instead  of  a 
blessed  immortality,  "  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation 
and  anguish,  which  shall  come  on  every  soul  of  man  that 
doeth  evil." 


SERMON  IV. 

Death — the  Wages  of  Sin. 

BY  REV.   DAVIS  V^.  CLARK,  A.  M., 

OF  THE   NEW-YORK  CONFERENCE. 

"  The  wagjes  of  sin  is  death." — Eom.  vi,  23. 

Sin  has  been  defined  "a  voluntary  transgression  of  the 
divine  law ;"  or,  in  other  words,  "  the  voluntary  departure 
of  a  moral  agent  from  a  known  rule  of  rectitude  or  duty 
prescribed  by  God."     And  this  answers  to  the  pertinent 


IV.J  DEATH THE   WAGES   OF   SIN.  57 

and  pointed  definition  of  the  evangelist  John :  "  Sin  is  the 
transgression  of  the  law."  The  law  consists  in  require- 
ments and  prohibitions,  founded  upon  the  inalienable  pre- 
rogatives of  the  divine  character,  and  growing  out  of  the 
immutable  rights  secured  to  the  Almighty  from  the  rela- 
tions he  sustains  to  us,  as  our  Creator,  Preserver,  and 
Benefactor.  His  will,  then,  is  the  sufficient  cause  of  the 
existence  of  these  requirements  and  prohibitions  ;  and  the 
proclamation  of  that  law  by  the  divine  authority  was 
sufficient  to  render  it  binding,  in  all  its  parts,  upon  all  his 
creatures.  Hence  a  neglect  of  its  requirements  is  no  less 
sin  than  a  transgression  of  its  prohibitions.  And  though 
there  may  be  kinds  of  sin,  as  well  as  degrees  in  sinning, 
the  neglect  of  the  known  requirements  of  the  gospel  ex- 
hibits no  less  "  a  want  of  conformity  to  the  divine  will," 
than  does  the  most  gross  and  daring  disregard  of  its  pro- 
hibitions. 

In  the  text  not  only  sin,  or  want  of  conformity  to  the 
will  of  God,  is  spoken  of;  but  also  the  wages  of  sin — as 
though  man  was  hired  to  commit  sin,  and  received  pay 
for  its  commission.  By  wages,  in  the  common  acceptation 
of  that  term,  we  mean  that  which  is  given  or  received  in 
return  for  services  rendered ;  and  frequently,  the  term,  as 
in  the  present  instance,  is  made  to  express  the  fruits  or 
results  of  any  specific  course  of  conduct;  Thus  the  apostle 
inquires,  "  What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof 
ye  are  now  ashamed  ?"  and  immediately  replies,  "  The  end 
of  those  things  is  death."  Man  is  here  represented  as 
yielding  his  services  and  receiving  his  pay — yielding  his 
services  to  sin,  and  receiving  death  as  the  fruit  of  his  toil ; 
or  yielding  them  unto  God,  and  having  his  fruit  unto  holi- 
ness, and  his  end  everlasting  life.  "  Know  ye  not,  that  to 
whom  ye  yield  yourselves  servants  to  obey,  his  servants 
ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey ;  whether  of  sin  unto  death,  or  of 
obedience  unto  righteousness  ?" 

But  a  more  comprehensive  view  of  the  whole  nature 
and  tendency  of  sin,  than  that  which  the  inspired  penman 
has  here  given,  can  hardly  be  conceived  of:  "  The  wages 
of  sin  is  death."  Mournfully  solemn  truth !  Earth  and 
hell  are  full  of  its  memorials  ;  and  all  time,  and  all  eternity, 
shall  reveal  more  and  more  of  its  fearful  import.  Yes,  the 
"wages  of  sin  is  death !"  and  wherever  its  contaminations 
3* 


58  DEATH THR  AVAGES  OF  SIN.  [SER. 

have  reached,  it  has  exerted  the  same  baneful  and  deadly- 
influence.  Its  character  and  nature  have  ever  remained 
the  same,  bearing  on  its  very  front  the  fearful  and 
alarming  marks  of  the  divine  displeasure.  And  the 
destructive  tendency  of  moral  corruption  is  as  strongly 
characterized,  and  as  clearly  evinced,  among  men,  and 
in  the  present  age  of  the  world,  as  when  it  robbed 
rebelling  angels  of  their  high  estate,  or  man  of  his  pri- 
mcAal  glory. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  that  we  guard  our  inquiry ; 
and  limit  it  to  such  bounds,  that  the  subject  may  not 
degenerate  into  mere  impracticable  speculation.  "We 
inquire,  then,  not  why  such  consequences  have  been 
attached  to  sin ;  but  our  simple  object  is  to  show  what  its 
consequences  really  and  truly  are.  Touching  upon  the 
reasons  why  God  has  thus  instituted  his  system  of  moral 
government,  we  offer  no  hypothesis,  no  explanatory  sup- 
position. "VYe  deal  only  with  the  facts  in  the  case ;  we 
enforce  only  the  truth,  that  "  the  ivages  of  sin  is  deaths 

In  attempting  this,  we  shall  contemplate  it  in  its  three- 
fold aspect,  as  being  the  cause  of  temporal,  spiritual,  and 
eternal  death. 

I.  We  remark,  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  sin  is  the 
cause  of  temporal  death. 

Temporal  death,  in  its  original  and  natural  signification, 
implies  the  loss  of  life  ;  or  the  separation  of  the  soul  from 
the  body,  and  the  consequent  decay  and  dissolution  of  our 
physical  nature.  Physiologists  have  defined  it  to  be  "the 
irrecoverable  cessation  of  all  the  functions  which  belong  to 
a  living  animal."  It  may  apply  also  to  the  destruction,  or 
loss,  of  whatever  is  connected  with,  or  essential  to,  the 
existence  of  that  nature. 

1.  It  is  impossible  to  define  what  would  have  been  the 
temporal  condition  of  man,  had  he  never  sinned.  It  is 
supposed  by  some  that  he  would  have  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  continued  existence  and  happiness  on  earth. 
The  tree  of  life,  to  which  he  would  have  had  access,  was  at 
once  a  pledge  of  permanent  being  and  happiness,  and  also 
a  means  of  securing  them.  The  fruit  of  this  tree  would, 
undoubtedly,  have  healed  or  averted  every  evil  to  which 
our  physical  nature  might  have  been  subject;  and  pre- 
served life  tlirough  the  longest  periods  of  duration,  had  not 


IV. j  DEATH THE  WAGES  OF  SIN.  59 

our  iniquities  barred  us  from  its  approach,  and  girt  it 
around  with  sleepless  "  cherubim  and  a  flaming  sword,"  as 
an  eternal  guard  "  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life." 

Or  again,  there  is  nothing  inconsistent  in  the  supposition^ 
that  man  might  have  enjoyed  a  long  life  here  ;  and  after  a 
long  series  of  years,  when  the  faculties  of  his  body  and 
mind  had  acquired  earthly  maturity — by  an  easy  transi- 
tion— he  might  have  been  transferred  to  a  holier  clime, 
to  pass  through  higher  scenes  of  bliss,  in  his  endless  pro- 
gression to  infinite  perfection  and  happiness.  How  easy 
might  have  been  the  change !  how  glorious  the  transition  ! 
What  unspeakable  felicities  would  have  enraptured  the 
soul,  as  every  successive  change  brought  it  into  nearer 
progression  to  the  infinite,  exhaustless  Fountain  of 
goodness  and  love !  But,  when  just  created,  when  just 
planted  in  the  garden,  with  the  broad  seal  of  immortality 
upon  his  brow,  and  with  the  clearest  indications  of  his  Crea- 
tor's goodness  around  him  ;  it  was  then  that  rebellion  dire 

"  Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  wo." 

It  was  then  that  the  glories  of  Eden  faded  from  his  vision, 
and  a  dark  cloud  of  wo  and  death  passed  over  all  his 
prospects :  for  "  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death  by  sin ;  so  death  passed  upon  all 
men,  for  that  all  have  sinned." 

2.  This  existence  was  not  only  designed  to  be  depend- 
ent, but  also  probationary ;  for  no  one  can  doubt  but  that 
man  was  designed,  ultimately,  to  fill  a  still  more  exalted 
sphere  in  the  scale  of  being,  and  that  a  brighter  glory 
would  have  been  revealed  in  his  existence,  had  he  not 
fallen. 

Perhaps  our  race  were  designed  to  fill  up  the  vacancy 
in  the  host  of  heaven,  which  had  been  occasioned  by  that 
disastrous  rebellion  that  had  peopled  hell  with  angels. 
Can  we  wonder,  then,  that  a  being,  a  race,  designed  to  fill 
up  so  glorious  a  place  in  the  scale  of  existence,  should  first 
have  their  faith  and  obedience  tried  and  tested  in  a  pro- 
bationary state  ?  Can  we  wonder  that  such  a  being  should 
be  first  placed  in  a  condition  in  which  his  character  should 
be  subjected  to  a  full  and  perfect  ordeal? 

But  a  probation  implies  a  law  ;  inasmuch  as  there  can 
be  no  trial,  no  probation,  without  a  system  of  discipline 


60  DEATH THE  WAGES  OF  SIN.  [SER. 

and  government.  A  law  also  implies  a  prohibition  and  a 
penalty.  If,  then,  man  was  designed  to  fill  up  the  vacancy 
in  heaven,  occasioned  by  the  fall  of  angels ;  and  if  he  was 
placed  under  a  law  in  his  probationary  state,  can  we  wonder 
that  to  a  violation  of  that  laAV  was  affixed  the  same  penahy 
whicli  the  fallen  angels  were  themselves  enduring  ?  'JTlius 
it  was,  that  when  man  was  created  and  planted  in  the  gar- 
den, which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  his  probation,  the  divine 
law  was  given,  and  the  fearful  penalty  affixed :  "  Of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of 
it:  for  in  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely 
die."  It  was  the  violation  of  this  command,  which  com- 
menced a  course  of  sinning  and  disobedience,  that  has 
filled  the  earth  with  pain  and  wo,  and  brought  death  upon 
all  our  race.  It  is  this  that  has  blotted  out  the  glories  of 
our  first  Eden,  and  plunged  our  race  from  a  sphere  of  ex- 
ultation and  glory  into  one  of  ignominy  and  ruin. 

3.  The  penalty,  forewarned,  of  the  violation  of  the  law 
under  which  man  was  placed,  is  expressed  in  these  words : 
"  Thou  shalt  surely  die ;"  or  more  literally,  "  Dying,  thou 
shalt  die."  This  is  a  form  of  expression  which  has  a  pecu- 
liarly emphatic  meaning ;  sometimes  denoting  the  absolute 
certainty  of  the  punishment  denounced  ;  and  sometimes 
signifying  not  only  the  certainty,  but  also  the  extraordinary 
and  gradual  completion  of  it.  Hence,  the  objection  which 
has  been,  by  some,  interposed  to  the  truth  of  the  Scripture 
record  upon  this  point — that  the  sentence  of  death  was  not 
executed  immediately,  or  that  man  did  not  literally  die  on 
the  day  of  his  transgression — is  of  no  force.  For  the  divine 
sentence,  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt 
surely  die,"  or,"  Dying,  thou  shalt  die,"  signifies  nothing  more 
nor  less,  than  that  in  tliat  day  thou  shalt  become  incurably 
mortal ;  that  thou  shalt  gradually  but  certainly  die  ;  that 
all  thy  days  thou  shalt  be  tending  to  dissolution  and  death, 
without  the  possibility  of  escape  or  remedy.  And  is  not 
this  literally  and  emphatically  true?  Have  not  all  the 
generations  of  men  that  have  preceded  us  been  borne 
down  and  swept  away  by  the  resistless  power  of  death  ? 
And  are  not  our  bodies,  from  our  very  infancy,  tending  to 
decay  and  death  ?  How  inevitable  the  execution  of  that 
appalling  sentence,  "  Dying,  thou  shalt  die  I" 

4.  This  leads  us  to  consider  another  objection.     It  is 


IV.]  DEATH — THE   WAGES   OF   SIN.  ftJL 

said  that  man,  as  originally  constituted,  possessed  all  the 
elements  of  decay  and  death.  And  that  it  is,  therefore,  absurd 
to  regard  death  as  the  result  of  his  violation  of  the  will  of 
his  Maker,  however  impious  and  daring  that  violation 
might  have  been. 

We  admit,  with  the  physiologist,  that  these  destructive 
agencies  had  an  existence  even  before  the  fall  of  man ; 
they  were  the  conservative  principles  held  by  the  Almighty 
in  his  own  hands,  that  he  might  bring  to  punishment  the 
moral  agents  he  had  created,  should  they  offend  against 
his  moral  government.  But,  in  reflecting  upon  the  evils 
that  might  possibly  have  resulted  from  these  agencies,  had 
man  not  fallen,  we  are  to  consider  two  things :  first,  they 
were  but  slightly  operative,  compared  with  their  present 
activity.  Sin,  while  it  has  had  the  effect  of  weakening  the 
vigor  and  retarding  the  activity  of  the  principle  of  life, 
has  had  a  powerful  agency  in  bringing  into  fearful  activity 
all  the  tendencies  to  decay  and  death. 

Again,  we  should  consider  that  man,  in  his  innocency, 
had  access  to  the  tree  of  life,  whose  fruit  would  have  ren- 
dered powerless,  for  ever,  every  destructive  agency.  Every 
bodily  evil  to  which  it  was  possible  for  man  to  be  exposed 
in  that  state  it  would  have  removed,  and  proved,  indeed, 
the  elixir  of  life  and  immortality.  But  no  sooner  had  man 
transgressed,  than  his  access  to  the  tree  of  life  was  for  ever 
barred  ;  and  he  was  left  a  hopeless  prey  to  the  elements 
of  death,  which  then,  like  uncaged  lions,  began  to  rage 
within  liim.  With  what  appalling  force  must  the  awful 
denunciation  of  an  offended  God  have  fallen  upon  an  of- 
fending race  !  ''  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground ;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou 
taken  ;  for  dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return." 

5.  There  is  also  another  objection,  which  is  worthy  of  a 
serious  consideration;  and  that  is,  the  alledged  disproportion 
between  the  offense  and^  the  sentence  pronounced  by  the 
Almighty. 

We  see  cause  and  effect  everywhere  prevailing  in  the 
world  ;  the  philosopher  satisfies  himself  with  the  discovery 
of  their  relation,  never  once  dreaming  that  it  is  incumbent 
upon  him  to  investigate  or  question  the  propriety  of  the 
relation.  To  vindicate,  then,  the  administration  of  the 
divine  government,  we  need  only  observe  the  fact  that  the 


62  DEATH — THE   WAGES    OF   SIN.  [SER. 

eating  of  the  forbitlden  fruit,  and  the  suffering  of  the  penalty 
of  death,  sustain  to  each  other  the  relation  of  cause  and 
effect,  the  one  naturally  and  necessarily  growing  out  of  the 
other.  A  man,  forewarned,  partakes  of  arsenic ;  then  he 
suffers  death  as  the  consequence  of  his  stupid  inattention 
to  the  warning,  or  the  obstinacy  of  his  unbelief.  vSo  our 
first  parents,  by  one  simple  act  of  disobedience,  threw  off 
the  restraining  influence  of  the  divine  command,  forfeited 
the  favor  of  God,  and  brought  upon  themselves  affliction, 
misery,  and  death.  They  willfully  forfeited  their  inno- 
cence, and  incurred  guilt ;  they  yielded  themselves  to  the 
indulgence  of  their  appetites  contrary  to  their  knowledge 
and  conviction  of  duty ;  they  permitted  themselves  to  be 
led  away  by  the  influence  and  force  of  temptation  to  violate 
the  law  of  God;  they  suffered  inclination  to  subdue  the 
dictates  of  conscience, — and  the  natural  consequence  of  all 
this  was  misery  and  death.  This  was  not  a  fortuitous  or 
peculiar  result.  The  consequences  of  sinful  indulgence 
have  been  the  same  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  and  of  eter- 
nity. It  dethroned  angels  of  light  ere  ever  the  w^orld  was  ; 
and,  since  man  has  fallen,  it  has  been  ever  working  the 
same  results  among  a  sinning  race.  Not  so  obvious,  in- 
deed, among  those  already  tainted  and  polluted,  for  their 
brightness  is  already  half  obscured  ;  but  tending,  with  un- 
erring certainty,  to  the  same  final  result. 

Let  us  not,  however,  be  understood  as  palliating  the 
actual  guilt  and  enormity  of  the  primeval  transgression. 
From  the  intimate  and  glorious  connections  that,  up  to  the 
period  of  their  apostasy,  had  existed  between  our  first 
parents  and  their  Creator  ;  from  the  distinct  and  awful 
manner  in  which  God,  with  his  own  lips,  had  warned  them 
of  their  danger  and  of  the  consequences  of  disobedience  ; 
from  the  clear  light  wdiich  their  own  unclouded  minds  re- 
flected upon  every  truth  and  every  duty ;  from  the  incon- 
ceivably beautiful  images  of  purity  and  goodness  with 
which  the  i)rimeval  cai-th  was  decked  ;  and  from  the  awful 
consequences  that  should  inhere  to  an  unborn  and  unnum- 
bered posterity, — the  crime  of  our  first  parents  assumes 
an  enormity  and  a  magnitude,  to  which  earth,  with  all  its 
unmitigated  and  increasing  wickedness,  has  not  since  been 
able  to  find  a  parallel.  I  know  there  are  crimes  that  seem 
to  bear  a  stamp  of  deepei-  malignity  and  heaven-daring,— 


IV.J  DEATH THE   WAGES   OF   SIN.  63 

crimes  that  would  indicate  the  utter  extinction  of  every 
pure  and  holy  feeling,  of  every  noble  and  virtuous  senti- 
ment ;  but  they  are  the  paroxysms  of  natures  already 
disjointed  and  ruined ;  of  minds  upon  which  the  light  of  hea- 
venly truth  has  long  cast  only  a  feeble  and  sickly  radiance ; 
of  souls  that  had,  from  long  contact  with  evil,  almost  lost 
the  very  apprehension  of  virtue.  The  sin  of  such,  only 
spreads  another  shade  of  darkness  over  the  already  sullied 
and  clouded  soul ;  but  the  sin  of  our  first  parents  not  only 
extinguished  the  before  undimmed  light  of  heaven  in  their 
own  souls,  but  stripped  the  very  earth  of  its  light  and 
loveliness,  and  transmitted  to  every  soul  of  man  moral  pesti- 
lence and  death.  As  their  sin  was  of  a  higher  character, 
so  its  consequences  were  of  a  more  fearful  magnitude  and 
extent. 

How  wide  and  universal  is  that  dominion  which  death 
has  established  over  our  earth !  The  dark  insignia  of  his 
power  are  everywhere  seen  ;  and  wherever  living  man 
peoples  the  earth,  there  are  to  be  found  the  monuments 
of  his  triumphs  and  victories.  No  individual  can  stay  his 
progress  or  elude  his  search.  From  the  midst  of  the  popu- 
lous city  and  from  the  lonely  glen,  from  the  abode  of 
luxury  and  from  the  hovel  of  penniless  poverty,  from  the 
bustling  scenes  of  crowded  life  and  from  the  lounging 
ranks  of  ease  and  idleness,  it  calls  forth  its  victims  to  their 
appointed  doom.  No  one  may  hope  to  escape.  From  the 
cradle  to  the  grave,  the  monster  follows  our  footsteps  with 
stealthy,  but  steady  strides ;  so  that  literally,  "  dying,  we  die." 

II.  In  the  second  place,  we  proceed  to  show  that  sin  is 
the  cause  of  spiritual  death. 

By  spiritual  death,  we  understand  not  an  utter  extinction 
of  our  spiritual  being,  for  spirit  cannot  cease  to  exist ;  but 
the  alienation  of  the  heart  from  God,  and  its  consequent 
destitution  of  divine  or  spiritual  Hfe.  The  term,  death, 
as  applied  to  the  soul,  is  used  in  a  figurative  or  meta- 
phorical, and  not  in  a  literal,  sense.  But  the  parallelism 
between  them  is  striking  and  impressive. 

1.  As  in  the  case  of  natural  death  all  the  functions  of 
the  body  become  totally  inoperative  and  useless ;  and  the 
body,  though  its  elements  are  not  annihilated,  suffers  cor- 
ruption and  ruin  ;  so,  in  spiritual  death,  the  functions  of 
the  spiritual  nature  become  utterly  inadequate  to  accom- 


64  DEATH — THE   WAGES   OF  SIN.  [SER. 

plish  the  objects  of  their  creation ;  and  though  the  spirit 
still  exists,  it  exists  in  corruption  and  in  ruin.  So  far  as  it 
concerns  every  holy  thought,  affection,  and  work,  the  soul  in 
this  state  is  totally  and  irrecoverably  dead.  This  is  what 
is  termed  being  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins." 

Sad  as  it  is  to  see  the  noble  frame  of  man  reduced  to 
corruption  and  death  by  sin— God's  handy-workmanship 
marred  by  iniquity ;  sad  as  it  may  be  to  contemplate  the 
wretchedness  and  bodily  suffering  with  which  sin  has  filled 
our  earth,  and  the  disorder  and  desolation  it  has  produced 
in  every  state  of  society  and  among  all  people  ;  this  is  not 
the  extent,  not  the  depth  of  the  ruin  it  has  wrought.  It 
is  in  man's  spiritual  nature  that  sin  has  done  its  direst, 
foulest  work.  The  moral  purity  of  this  inner  sanctuary 
of  our  being  has  been  defiled,  its  glory  has  been  tarnished 
and  obscured,  its  godlike  aspirations  have  been  trampled 
in  the  dust,  and  its  immortal  hopes  have  been  blighted  and 
withered. 

2.  As  natural  death  breaks  off  its  victim  from  his  con- 
nection Avith  the  living ;  so  spiritual  death  severed  the  soul 
from  the  intimate  and  glorious  relationship  it  sustained,  in 
its  purity,  to  the  grand  fountain  of  spiritual  life. 

Man,  in  his  primeval  state  of  holiness,  was  permitted  to 
enjoy  free  and  familiar  intercourse  with  his  Creator,  whose 
presence  filled  his  soul  with  rapturous  joy,  and  in  whose 
converse  was  his  chief  delight.  He  also  possessed  the 
peculiar  favor  of  his  God,  as  a  being  designed  to  mirror 
forth  his  glory,  and  exhibit  the  highest  specimen  of  cre- 
ative skill.  Like  the  lovely  masterpiece  of  the  divine 
Architect,  man  came  from  the  hand  of  his  Maker  ;  but  sin 
has  marred  its  beauty,  and  despoiled  it  of  its  loveliness. 
As  the  soul  is  the  life  of  the  body,  so  God  is  the  life  of  the 
soul ;  and  when  he  withdraws,  spiritual  death  ensues.  In 
this  sense,  the  curse  was  fulfilled  upon  Adam  at  the  very 
moment  of  his  transgression.  That  moment  he  became 
spiritually  dead.  He  now  dreaded  the  presence  of  his 
Maker,  and  sought  to  hide  himself;  and  when  compelled 
to  appeal'  before  him,  it  was  as  a  self-condemned  criminal, 
trembling  in  the  presence  of  an  awful  judge,  from  whom 
he  had  no  right  to  hope,  or  reason  to  expect  mercy. 

3.  This  spiritual  death  has  extended  its  influence 
through  our  whole  nature.     It  has  affected  not  only  the 


IV.]  DEATH THE  WAGES   OF   SIN.  65 

moral  feelings,  but  also  the  understanding.  The  vigor,  the 
elasticity,  and  the  comprehension  of  the  intellect ;  in  fine, 
all  its  powers  have  become  paralized,  so  that  knowledge, 
as  well  as  bread,  can  be  acquired  only  by  the  "  sweat  of  the 
face."  The  affections,  the  heart  has  also  fallen  under  the 
influence  of  this  fearful  lapse.  How  high,  how  transcend- 
ently  glorious,  was  the  object  of  man's  earliest  and  holiest 
affections !  But,  when  he  had  fallen,  how  fitly  is  he 
described  as  "  changing  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and 
worshiping  and  serving  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator !" 
Affections  withdrawn  from  God,  now  centred  in  himself; 
and  envy,  and  malice,  and  all-absorbing  selfishness,  sprung 
up  as  the  legitimate  offspring  of  perv  erted  affections.  The 
heart,  just  now  so  pure,  so  holy,  so  elevated  in  its  aims, 
how  has  it  fallen !  "  How  has  the  gold  become  dim,  and  the 
most  fine  gold  changed !" 

Conscience  and  reason  have  also  suffered  in  this  uni- 
versal wreck  of  our  spiritual  nature.  And  as  if  sin  would 
leave  no  sentiment,  no  principle,  no  power  of  our  nature, 
uncontaminated,  it  has  invaded  the  sanctuary  of  its  free- 
dom and  enslaved  the  will,  so  that  every  power  and  sus- 
ceptibility of  our  nature  has  become  the  servant  and 
minister  of  sin.  "  The  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole 
heart  is  faint."  ^^  Every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his 
heart  was  only  evil  continually."  "  The  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God ;"  it  has  abjured  reason,  conscience, 
and  religion,  and  become  the  slave  of  passion  and  base 
desire.  How  often  is  it  seen,  in  the  dark  catalogue  of  man's 
follies,  that  he  wills — sternly  and  daringly  wills — against 
all  that  is  just,  and  pure,  and  virtuous,  and  good ;  and  in 
favor  of  all  that  is  base,  and  dark,  and  ruinous  as  perdition 
itself!  How  often  is  it  that  the  luill — the  inexorable  will — 
stands  firm  as  the  granite  bulwark  against  all  the  pleading 
remonstrances  of  conscience ;  against  all  the  sublime  and 
touching  sympathies  that  pour  themselves  forth  from  the 
garden  of  Gethsemane,  the  hall  of  Pilate,  and  the  cross  of 
Calvary ;  against  all  the  terrors  that  are  thundered  from 
the  lofty  peaks  of  Sinai,  from  the  majesty  of  eternal  jus- 
tice, and  from  the  sinner's  final  doom  !  Why,  against  all 
this,  does  the  heart  remain  unmoved,  and  the  will  unsub- 
dued, but  that  this  spiritual  death  has  spread  through  all  our 
nature,  chilling  every  emotion,  and  corrupting  every  faculty? 


66  DEATH THE   WAGES    OF   SIN.  [SER. 

4.  This  spiritual  deatli  extends  to,  and  reigns  over,  all 
men,  until  they  are  renewed  by  the  grace  of  life. 

The  whole  history  of  man,  in  every  age,  in  every  nation, 
so  far  as  we  have  any  knowledge,  is  but  a  standing  and 
everlasting  demonstration  that  both  Jews  and  Gentiles  are 
all  included  under  sin ;  that,  naturally,  "  there  is  none 
righteous,  no,  not  one," — "  there  is  none  that  understand- 
eth,  none  that  seeketh  after  God."  "  They  are  all  gone 
out  of  the  way," — '•  there  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their 
eyes  ;  destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  Avays ;  and  the 
way  of  peace  have  they  not  known."  Amid  the  over- 
spreading influence  of  this  spiritual  death,  wickedness  has 
acquired  rank  and  fearful  growth,  and  earth  itself  has 
grown  old  in  crime.  From  this  deep  fountain  of  wicked- 
ness in  man's  spiritual  nature,  what  floods  of  iniquity  have 
been  poured  out  to  blacken  the  fair  face  of  creation,  and 
cover  the  entire  history  of  a  sinning  race  with  shades  of 
moral  turpitude  appalling  to  the  virtuous  contemplation! 

And  even  the  church  of  the  living  God,  purchased  and 
renewed  by  the  blood  of  atonement,  how  has  her  light  been 
dimmed,  and  her  energies  paralized,  by  the  lethargic  in- 
fluence of  this  spiritual  malady.  And  never  can  she  stand 
forth  in  all  her  comeliness  and  beauty — "the  light  of  the 
world " — till,  through  faith,  she  has  obtained  triumphant 
victory  over  sin,  and  inscribed,  Holiness  to  the  Lord, 
upon  all  her  banners.  How  have  the  great  enterprises  of 
Christianity  flagged  beneath  the  waning  zeal  and  activity 
of  the  church  !  0,  would  she  but  rend  asunder  the  grave- 
clothes  of  her  worldly-mindedness,  and  put  on  her  garments 
of  Heaven's  own  weaving  ;  how  soon  would  the  life's  blood 
of  the  soul  begin  to  course  her  veins  with  unwonted  free- 
dom !  how  soon  would  she  come  up  from  the  wilderness 
leaning  on  her  Beloved !  The  breezes  of  heaven  would 
fill  her  temples  ;  and  the  dry  bones,  now  scattered  abroad, 
bleaching  on  all  her  plains,  would  rise  to  spiritual  life; 
and  an  accumulated  flood  of  glory  would  roll  onward  till 
our  desert  world  should  bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

III.  But  let  us  approach  the  third  and  last  topic  of  our 
discourse,  and  contemplate  the  wages  of  sin  in  their  final 
and  eternal  results. 

I  approach  this  subject,  my  brethren,  with  the  profound- 
est  solemnity  and  awe.     It  is  no  subject  on  which  to  trifle, 


IV.]  DEATH THE   WAGES   OF   SIN.  67 

or  use  vain  words ;  for  if  there  be  one  subject  on  wbicli 
we  should  deal  with  our  fellow-beings  with  more  scrupu- 
lous smcerity  than  another,  it  is  that  which  affects  their 
eternal  hopes  and  condition.  God  forbid,  that  I,  as  a  minis- 
ter of  his  word,  should  withhold  aught  of  his  truth,  or  fail 
to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God ;  and  while  I  am  thus 
called  to  deal  out  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  I  would  do  it 
with  all  plamness  and  godly  sincerity. 

1.  Need  I  apologize,  my  brethren,  for  dwelling  upon  this 
solemn,  momentous  theme  ?  And  yet,  I  am  perfectly 
awai-e  that  the  proclamation  of  the  fearful  denunciations  of 
God  does  not  suit  the  fastidious  tastes  of  even  many  pro- 
fessing Christians.  Say  they,  "  Tell  us  of  salvation,  bring 
to  us  the  messages  of  mercy,  speak  to  us  of  the  love  of 
G^d — of  the  compassionate,  bleeding  Lamb,  tell  us  of  hea- 
ven, of  its  blessedness  and  glory ;  but  tell  us  not  of  the 
wrath  of  God,  speak  to  us  not  of  his  anger,  bring  not  be- 
fore us  the  horrors  of  an  endless  hell."  My  brethren,  how 
inconsistent  is  this  fastidiousness  !  What  is  the  proclama- 
tion of  heaven  to  the  pure  in  heart,  but  the  proclamation 
of  hell  to  the  impure,  and  to  all  workers  of  iniquity  ?  But, 
has  God  declared  a  truth,  and  shall  man  presume  to  hide 
it  from  his  perishing  fellow-men,  lest  he  should  wound  the 
false  delicacy  of  the  formalist,  or  shock  the  sensibility  of 
the  impenitent  and  godless  ?  Nay,  sinner,  the  very  love 
we  bear  to  your  souls,  as  well  as  our  duty  to  our  divine 
Master,  requires  us  to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God. 
Even  affection,  love  for  the  sinner,  would  constrain  the 
minister  of  God  to  deal  plainly  with  his  soul.  If  a  man 
is  in  the  first  stages  of  a  lingering  and  fatal  disease,  what 
would  you  say  of  the  wisdom,  or  prudence,  or  justice,  even, 
of  the  physician  Avho  should  withhold  from  him  a  know- 
ledge of  his  situation,  if  that  knowledge  were  essential  to 
his  cure  ?  Would  a  man  in  his  senses  ask  for  such  medi- 
cal treatment  ?  Rather,  would  he  not  claim  it  as  his  right, 
to  be  made  acquainted  with  the  real  nature  and  danger  of 
his  case  ?  And  would  not  the  physician  be  faithless  in  his 
duty,  who  should  withhold  knowledge  of  such  imminent 
importance  from  him  ?  If,  then,  we  would  not  be  trifled 
with  in  the  disease  that  can  only  destroy  the  body,  how 
can  we  ask  to  be  trifled  with  in  that  spiritual  malady  which 
icill  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  /tell/ 


68  DEATH — THE  WAGES   OP  SIN.  [SER. 

2.  The  death  of  which  we  have  here  spoken,  is  unques- 
tionably the  special  and  peculiar  fruit  or  wages  of  sin  to 
which  the  apostle  referred  in  our  text.  For  the  death 
spoken  of  is  placed  in  contrast  with  "  eternal  life ;"  and 
what,  I  beseech  you,  but  eternal  death  can  be  the  opposite 
of  eternal  life  ?  I  am  aware  that  some  tell  us  that  such  a 
death  has  no  existence,  except  in  the  brain  of  the  theologian. 
But  you  must  know,  as  well  as  myself,  that  the  future  state 
of  the  wicked  is  often  represented  as  being  different  from 
that  of  the  righteous — nay,  the  one  is  often  placed  in  con- 
trast with  the  other,  and  the  same  terms  used  to  express  the 
duration  of  each.  If,  then,  the  use  of  these  terms,  in  the 
one  case,  affords  any  ground  of  hope  that  the  joys  of  heaven 
will  be  of  eternal  duration  ;  in  the  other,  they  afford  deep 
and  awful  reason  to  fear  that  the  woes  of  hell  will  be  alike 
interminable  and  unceasing.  You  may  as  well  tell  me  there 
is  no  heaven,  as  that  there  is  no  hell ;  or  that  the  angels 
and  God  himself  are  but  the  creatures  of  poetic  fancy,  as 
that  Satan  and  fiends  of  darkness  have  no  essential  exist- 
ence. Does  the  Bible  speak  of  the  one,  so  it  does  of  the 
other.  Does  it  portray  the  unspeakable  bliss  of  the  saints  in 
glory,  it  also  speaks  of  the  unutterable  woes  of  the  damned 
in  hell — the  horrors  of  the  "  second  death." 

3.  But  what  is  this  second  death  ?  what  language  can 
describe  it  ?  What  lofty  conception  can  comprehend  it  in 
all  its  fullness?  The  mariner,  with  his  plummet,  can 
fathom  the  depth  of  the  sea — the  navigator  can  measure 
its  expanse — but  what  line  or  plummet  can  fathom  the 
bottomless  ocean  of  eternal  perdition  ?  Avhat  navigator  can 
take  the  aggregate  of  its  wo  ?  Inspiration  only  can  give 
utterance  to  the  fullness  of  this  eternal  death.  It  is  an 
eternal  banishment  of  both  soul  and  body  from  the  presence 
of  God,  and  from  the  glory  of  his  power — an  eternal  sepa- 
ration from  the  favor  and  enjoyment  of  God.  And,  if  God 
be  withdrawn  from  the  soul,  what  is  left  to  it  but  the 
"  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever  ?"  It  is  not  an  extinction 
of  being,  but  of  happiness  and  hope — the  destruction  of  both 
body  and  soul  in  hell.  It  is  being  cast  into  hell,  where  their 
worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire  is  not  quenched.  It  is  being 
cast,  with  all  his  members,  into  hell ;  it  is  going  into  ever- 
lasting fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  To  the 
wicked  the  day  of  judgment  is  a  day  of  wrath  ;  for  then 


IV.]  DEATH THE  WAGES    OF   SIN.  69 

shall  the  Lord  Jesus  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  the 
mightj  angels;  in  flaming  lire,  taking  vengeance  on  them 
which  know  not  God,  and  that  obey  not  the  gospel  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  who  shall  be  punished  with  everlast- 
ing destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from 
the  glory  of  his  power.  And  the  smoke  of  their  torment 
ascendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever ;  and  they  have  no  rest  day 
nor  night. 

Such  are  the  fearful  and  final  wages  of  sin.  Sad  as  is 
the  picture  of  wo  it  exhibits,  it  is  what  the  finally  im- 
penitent shall  really  suffer.  Say  not  that  the  picture  is 
colored  and  fancy-wrought ;  for  the  pencil  that  drew,  and 
the  fancy  that  wrought  h,  were  those  of  inspiration.  And 
if  these  are  only  the  plain,  solemn,  and  truthful  announce- 
ments of  the  righteous  retributions  of  offended  Heaven,  how 
ought  the  impenitent  to  take  alarm,  and  escape  from  im- 
pending death ! 

4.  Is  it  not  the  fear  and  apprehension  of  this  death 
that  clothes  the  hour  of  dissolution  with  such  dread — that 
arms  the  "king  of  terrors"  with  such  a  fearful  "sting?" 
How  universal  is  the  fear  and  dread  of  death  !  By  how 
many  mortals  would  a  life  of  poverty,  and  toil,  and  bodily 
suffering,  be  gladly  chosen,  rather  than  to  endure  what  is 
dreaded  and  feared  in  death ! 

"  The  Aveariest  and  most  loathed  worldly  life. 
That  age,  ache,  penury,  and  imprisonment,  can  lay  on  man, 
Is  paradise  to  what  we  fear  of  death." 

But  repulsive  as  may  be  the  wasting  pain,  the  gasping 
agony,  the  utter  dissolution  and  rottenness  of  the  grave ; 
hard  as  it  may  seem  to  be  cut  off  from  the  society  of  those 
we  love — to  open  our  eyes  upon  the  light  of  heaven  no  more 
— to  be  incarcerated  in  that  gloomy  cell,  which  is  penetrated 
by  the  beams  of  no  sun,  and  cheered  by  the  murmurs  of 
no  sound;  sorrowful  as  may  be  the  unavailing  grief  of 
bereaved  friends,  the  heart-rending  wail  of  those  bound 
to  us  by  ties  that  death  only  could  sever — it  is  not  the 
anguish  of  friends,  the  gloom  of  the  grave,  nor  the  agony 
of  dying,  that  makes  us  dread  death,  and  shudder  at  its 
approach.  Whence,  then,  this  shrinking  from  its  cold  em- 
brace ?     Why  this  fear  and  alarm  at  its  approach  ? — 


70  DEATH THE   WAGES   OF   SIN.  [SER. 

"  But  that  the  dread  of  something  after  death, 
That  undiscover'd  country,  from  whose  bourne 
No  traveler  returns,  puzzles  the  will !" 

Why  is  it,  but  that  the  truth  of  God  is  foreshadowed 
by  the  appalling  apprehensions  of  a  guilty  conscience  ? 
Why  is  it,  but  that  conscience  already  apprehends  the 
agony  of  the  undying  worm  and  the  unquenchable  fire  ? 
And  if  the  premonition,  the  mere  foreshadowing  of  this 
eternal  death,  be  thus  appalling,  what  must  it  be,  when  the 
sinner  shall  experience  it,  in  all  its  fullness  ! 

5.  Permit  me  to  pause  with  emphasis  upon  this  subject 
— O,  that  I  could  impart  to  it  that  solemn  emphasis,  which 
its  importance  demands  ! — that  I  may  present  it  with  more 
distinctness  and  force  to  the  impenitent  before  me. 

Say  not,  sinner,  let  me  earnestly  and  solemnly  entreat 
you — say  not  that  this  ruin  shall  not  come  nigh  thee  ;  for  it 
may  be  that  even  now  thou  art  standing  upon  the  "very 
verge  of  everlasting  wo.  The  merest  thread  of  being 
separates  between  thee  and  the  realization  of  all  the  hor- 
rors of  the  second  death.  "  Be  not  deceived  ;  Grod  is  not 
mocked."  Thou  mayest  hide  thy  sins  and  cloak  thy  fol- 
lies from  the  sight  and  observation  of  man ;  but  thy  God 
is  not  deceived,  and  fearfully  shall  he  call  thee  to  account ; 
nay,  thy  own  conscience  acciiseth  thee  and  bodes  thy  fear- 
ful doom.  It  raises  its  voice  with  solemn  admonition  and 
warning,  and  points  thee  to  the  solemn  hour  of  Heaven's 
avenging  retribution.  And,  if  it  thus  reprove  thee,  notwith- 
standing all  the  influence  of  worldly  interests,  prejudices, 
and  passions ;  how  will  it  torment  thee,  when  all  these 
have  died  away !  If  the  recollection  of  thy  sin,  thy  dere- 
liction of  duty  to  thy  God  and  to  thy  own  soul,  be  thus 
poignant  here,  what  will  it  be  hereafter  1  If  impending 
ruin  fill  thee  Avith  dismay,  and  blanch  thy  cheek  to  deathly 
paleness,  what  horror  shall  attend  ruin  realized  !  Though 
thou  mayest  stifle  the  voice  of  conscience  here,  and  in  folly 
forget  thy  sin,  yet,  presume  not  that  it  will  be  thus  with 
thee  hereafter.  Thy  soul  shall  be  all  uncovered  to  its 
sting ;  and  shall  stand  unhoused,  amidst  that  storm  of  di- 
vine wrath,  which  the  Almighty  shall  rain  upon  the 
wicked.  JVIemory  shall  never  forget ;  conscience  shall 
never  die,  and  through  the  long,  long  ages  of  eternity,  shall 
it  continue  to  hold  ever  before  thee  the  mirror  of  thy  fol- 


IV.]  DEATH THE   WAGES   OF   SIN.  71 

lies  and  thy  sins.  Clearly,  as  if  reflected  in  the  sunbeams 
of  eternal  light,  shall  it  upbraid  thee  for  thy  disobedience 
to  thy  God ;  thy  want  of  care  for  thy  soul ;  and  the  bur- 
den of  thy  lamentation  shall  be,  that  with  thine  own  hand 
thou  hast  plucked  down  this  fearful  ruin  upon  thee  ;  that 
upon  thyself  thou  hast  barred  and  bolted  the  massy  gates 
of  hell's  enduring  dungeon  ;  that  thou  hast  pointed  the 
spear  and  aimed  the  shaft  that  now  pierces  thy  soul  with 
unending  anguish.  And  to  fill  up  to  its  very  brim  the  cup 
of  thy  bitterness,  to  complete  thy  loathings  of  self,  to  give 
higher  zest  to  the  gnawings  of  the  undying  worm,  thou 
shalt  ever  remember— the  appalling  truth  shall  be  written 
in  burning  capitals  upon  the  very  walls  of  thy  prison-house 
• — that  thou  hast  done  all  this  "  in  spite  of  the  Grodhead 
slain,"  and  while  bleeding  mercy  wept  over  thee,  and  a 
compassionate  Redeemer  besought  thy  return  to  God. 

But  I  must  noAV  close.  I  have  endeavored  to  probe  this 
moral  disease,  and  trace  it  out  into  its  final  results.  And 
now,  it  only  remains  for  me  to  hold  up  the  grand  restora- 
tive ;  to  proclaim  that  "  there  is  a  halm  in  Gilcad,  and  a 
physician  there  ;"  that  though  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death," 
"  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord." 

And  while  I  turn  to  this  glorious  truth,  new  light  from 
the  highest  heaven  seems  to  break  upon  my  mind.  Here 
do  I  learn  that  the  sinner  may  be  pardoned  and  redeemed ; 
the  unholy  be  sanctified  and  saved  ;  that  death  may  be  de- 
prived of  its  sting,  and  hell  disappointed  of  its  prey. 
Here  do  I  learn  that  though  sin  may  rage,  and  death  de- 
vour, the  grace  of  God  can  give  victory  and  triumph. 
Wide  as  they  may  have  spread  their  ravages,  so  wide  is 
the  abounding  grace  and  mercy  of  God  ;  mighty  as  may 
be  the  dominion  they  have  so  long  usurped,  still  more 
mighty  and  glorious  is  the  dominion  and  power  displayed 
m  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  O,  the  triumph  and  glory 
of  the  cross  !  There  is  in  it  an  omnipotence,  to  break  off 
the  chains  and  thraldom  of  Satan,  and  exalt  the  soul  to 
the  knowledge  and  glory  of  salvation. 

"  Break  off  your  tears,  ye  saints,  and  tell 
How  high  your  great  Deliv'rer  reigns  ; 
Sing  how  he  spoil'd  the  hosts  of  hell, 
And  led  the  monster  death  in  chains  ! 


72  SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS  AND   GLORIOUS.      [SEK. 

Say, '  Live  for  ever,  wondrous  King ! 

Bom  to  redeem,  and  strong  to  save  !' 
Then  ask  the  monster,  '  Wliei-e  's  thy  sting  V 

And  '  Wliere  's  thy  victory,  boasting  grave  V  " 

But  what  madness  can  prompt  the  sinner  to  the  rejec- 
tion of  this  priceless  gift ;  the  only  balm  that  can  cure 
his  spiritual  malady  ;  the  only  agency  that  can  deliver 
from  tlie  power  and  dominion  of  sin  and  death  ?  Is  it  a 
slight  thing  that  the  soul,  endowed  with  powers  and  capa- 
cities which  ally  it  to  angels  and  to  heaven,  the  soul  that 
shall  never  cease  to  be  and  to  suffer,  shall  perish  in  eter- 
nal night  ?  O,  "  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  living  God  r  '■'■Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not  mocked. 
Whatsoever^'' — yes,  "whatsoever  a  man  soivetJi,  that  shall 
he  also  reap."  Life  is  the  spring-time  of  our  being  ;  we  go 
forth  sowing  seed ;  eternity  is  the  season  when  the  harvest 
shall  be  reaped,  the  fruit  gathered  in.  The  fruit  of  sin  is 
eternal  death. 

I  pray  God  to  deliver  us  from  the  pollution  and  the 
practice  of  sin,  that  we  may  not  gather  this  fearful  harvest 
unto  our  souls,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 


SERMON  V. 

Salvation — Mysterious  and  Glorious. 

BY  REV.  JAMES  FLOY,  A.  M., 

OF  THE  NEW-YORK  CONFERENCE. 

"Which  things  the  angels  desire  to  look  into." — 1  Pet.  i,  12. 

The  natural  inquiry.  What  are  the  things  into  which 
angels  desire  to  look,  or,  as  the  original  implies,  upon 
which  they  intently  gaze,  is  readily  answered  by  the  con- 
text. They  are  "  the  salvation  of  souls,"  "  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,"  "  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
sent  down  from  heaven."  These  are  the  "things"  which 
engage  the  attention  of  the  first-born  sons  of  light ;  these 
the  "  tilings"  wliich  constitute  the  subject  of  angelic  study. 
Hence  results  the  doctrine  : — 


V.J  SALVATION MYSTERIOUS   AND   GLORIOUS.  73 

Salvation,  procured  hy  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  ren- 
dered effectual  hy  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  is  a  subject 
profoundly  mysterious  and  infinitely  glorious. 

Infinitely  glorious, — else  had  their  attention  been  ab- 
sorbed by  some  other  subject  in  the  boundless  empire  of 
the  great  Supreme  ;  profoundly  mysterious,  or  they  "  who 
excel  in  strength"  had  long  since  fathomed  it,  and  turned 
their  attention  elsewhere. 

1.  Mysterious,  and  therefore  a  subject  of  angelic  study. 
First,  from  its  novelty.     "  The  thing  that  hath  been," 

says  the  wise  man,  "it  is  that  which  shall  be" — a  truth 
which  holds  among  the  inhabitants  of  heaven,  as  well  as 
among  the  dwellers  upon  earth.  From  them,  equally  as 
from  us,  God  has  hidden  the  future.  To  Him  only  is 
known  what  a  day  will  bring  forth ;  and  they,  like  our- 
selves, are  enabled  to  infer  the  probability  of  what  will  be, 
from  a  knowledge  of  what  is,  and  what  has  been.  For  the 
salvation  of  sinners  by  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  there  was 
no  prototype.  It  was  an  event  totally  unique  in  the  annals 
of  eternity ;  and  the  anthem  John  heard  in  heaven,  the 
burden  of  which  was,  "  Glory  unto  the  Lamb,"  is  called 
there  the  new  song. 

Not  only  so.  It  was  in  direct  contradiction  to  their  ex- 
perience. There  had  been  sin  in  heaven  before  its  blight- 
ing influence  blasted  God's  earthly  paradise.  Angels,  un- 
der their  leader  Michael,  had  fought  against  their  com- 
peers who  kept  not  their  first  estate  ;  had  seen  them  thrust 
down  to  the  place  prepared  for  them ;  and  knew  that  they 
were  there  reserved  in  everlasting  chains,  under  darkness, 
unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  For  them  no  Saviour 
was  provided ;  no  gospel  ever  echoed  through  the  dreary 
caverns  of  the  damned,  and  the  smoke  of  their  torment 
was  ascending,  in  increasing  blackness,  when  an  embassy 
of  these  angelic  students  was  commissioned  to  announce  to 
our  world  the  strangely  mysterious  truth,  that,  by  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ,  sinners  might  be  pardoned,  sanctified,  glo- 
rified.    Again, 

2.  The  moral  character  of  the  race  to  he  redeemed  height- 
ens  this  mystery. 

Were  rebel  angels  greater  sinners  than  fallen  men? 
Of  course,  we  presume  not  to  answer  that  question  ;  but 
we  may  ask,  and  to  some  extent  answer  the  inquiry : — 
4 


74  SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS  AND   GLORIOUS.      [SER. 

What  had  been  the  moral  history  of  our  world  when  the 
Redeemer's  advent  was  announced  to  the  wondering  shep- 
herds of  Judea  ?  Wliat  a  spectacle  had  it  presented  to  the 
gaze  of  those  who  shouted  for  joy  when  God  laid  its  cor- 
ner-stone, as  one  generation  succeeded  another,  until  the 
fullness  of  time  had  come  ?  They  saw  the  first  man,  cre- 
ated (and  it  is  not  said  they  were  thus  created)  in  the  like- 
ness and  image  of  his  Maker,  basely  yield  to  temptation, 
and  coolly  attempt  to  palliate  his  guilt,  and  to  justify  his 
conduct.  They  heard  the  dying  groan  of  righteous  Abel, 
as  death  first  entered  into  the  dominions  of  Jehovah  ;  death 
by  violence,  death  by  a  brother's  hand.  Thence  onward, 
age  after  age,  in  every  part  of  the  earth,  they  saw  man  in 
arms  against  his  fellow  ;  carnage  his  delight,  the  shedding 
of  a  brother's  blood  his  glory  ;  unto  such  an  extent,  that 
the  history  of  our  world  is  little  else  than  a  chronicle  of 
wars,  and  a  record  of  the  slain.  And  what  was  man's 
conduct  toward  his  Maker  ?  How  did  it  appear  to  those 
who  worship  Him  with  a  pure  and  unceasing  devotion  ? 
God  had  revealed  himself  to  his  earth-born  creature,  had 
made  known  his  will,  and  stooped  to  ask  the  homage  of  his 
heart.  Behold  man  as  angels  saw  him,  "  disliking  to  re- 
tain God  in  his  knowledge,"  bowing  down  to  idols  made 
by  his  own  hands,  worshiping  the  planets,  deifying  some 
monster  of  wickedness,  and  adoring  the  reptiles  that  crawl 
beneath  his  feet.  That  black  cloud,  which  has  been  rising 
for  centuries  from  earth  to  heaven,  darkening  the  very 
throne  of  Jehovah ;  what  is  it  ?  It  is  the  incense  offered 
by  the  children  of  men  to  their  great  Creator,  their  unwea- 
ried benefactor ;  the  incense  of  oaths,  and  cursings,  and 
blasphemies.  How  did  these  things  appear  in  the  eyes  of 
the  celestial  host ;  and  how,  upon  their  ears,  did  such 
sounds  vibrate  ?  Lo  !  these  are  the  subjects  of  this  salva- 
tion !     But  its  mystery  is  seen  still  further, 

3.  In  the  manner  of  its  accomplishment. 

By  the  sufferings  of  Christ !  Instinctively  our  minds 
revert  to  the  manger  of  Bethlehem,  the  garden  of  Geth- 
semane,  the  cross  on  Calvary.  We  behold  the  man,  the 
man  of  sorrows,  homeless,  friendless,  for  he  had  not  where 
to  lay  his  head,  and  in  his  trying  hour  all  forsook  him. 
We  remember  his  piercing  cry : — "  My  soul  is  exceeding 
sorrowful  even  unto  death ;"  his  prayer  for  the  removal  of 


v.]  SALVATION MYSTERIOUS  AND   GLOKIOUS.  75 

"  this  cup ;"  and  the  strange  mystery  revealed  in  that 
verse  of  Luke's  Gospel,  where  it  is  written :  "  There  ap- 
peared an  angel  from  heaven," — one  of  those  who  desire 
to  look  into  these  things, — "  strengthening  him."  The  suf- 
ferings of  Christ !  We  revert  to  his  temptation  in  the  wil- 
derness, to  his  fastings,  and  his  midnight  prayers ;  his  buf- 
fetings  and  scourgings  ;  his  lacerated  and  bleeding  body ; 
his  crown  of  thorns,  the  nails,  the  soldier's  spear,  his  dying 
exclamation,  "  It  is  finished  !"  What  then  ?  We  have 
reached  merely  the  confines,  the  outer  boundaries  of  the 
meaning  of  that  language — the  sufferings  of  Christ.  Egre- 
gious, therefore,  is  the  folly,  to  call  it  by  no  harsher  name, 
when  man,  who,  in  his  present  state,  sees  only  through  a 
glass  darkly,  professes  to  explain  this  mystery  5  undertakes 
to  gauge  the  depth  of  those  sufferings ;  and  ventures  to 
discuss  the  question  : — How  could  He,  who  ever  liveth — 
die  ;  and  how  could  the  fountain  of  all  happiness — suffer  ? 
It  is  the  finite  measuring  the  infinite, — the  creature  ana- 
lyzing the  Creator.  It  is  one  of  the  ten  thousand  illustra- 
tions of  that  verse  of  the  poet,  which,  from  its  universality, 
has  passed  into  a  proverb : 

"  Fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread !" 

Thus,  as  happens  to  the  eye  of  him  who  seeks  to  mea- 
sure spots  upon  the  surface  of  the  sun  shining  at  noonday, 
the  understanding  is  darkened ;  and  faith,  by  which  only 
can  He  who  is  invisible  be  seen,  becomes  weak.  Even  of 
the  men  who  have  been  commissioned  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  take  the  oversight  of  the  fiock,  there  are  those,  who 
affect  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  Paul's  language  when  he 
charges  them  to  "  feed  the  church  of  God  which  he  hath 
purchased  with  Ms  own  hloodP  Others  give  the  passage 
a  fanciful  and  far-fetched  interpretation;  and  yet  others 
exult  at  having  found,  in  some  Arianized  version,  a  different 
reading.  Thus  the  ransom  price  of  a  world  is  under- 
valued, and  at  length,  having  at  first  been  wounded  in  the 
house  of  his  friends,  the  Redeemer  is,  by  his  enemies, 
stripped  of  his  divinity,  and  put  to  an  open  shame.  What 
we  now  know,  and  our  knowledge  rests  not  upon  any  iso- 
lated passage  of  Scripture,  amounts  to  this : — the  salva- 
tion of  our  race  was  effected  by  the  sufferings  of  Christ, 
and  XDhrist  is  the  Creator  and  upholder  of  all  things,  the 


7&  SALVATION MYSTERIOUS  AND   GLORIOUS.       [SER. 

Lord  God  omnipotent.  Hereafter,  if  our  faith  fail  not,  we 
shall  "  look  into  these  things,"  with  those  who  now  sur- 
round that  throne,  in  the  midst  of  which  they  behold  "  a 
Lamb,  as  it  had  been  slain ;"  and  the  same  Lamb  shall  in- 
struct us,  and  "  lead  us  to  living  fountains  of  waters." 

4.  The  mode  of  its  promulgation  heightens  the  mystery  of 
this  salvation. 

It  pleases  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save 
them  that  believe;  and, — how  can  they  hear  without  a 
preacher  ?  Angels  were  sent  to  announce  His  advent,  and 
to  proclaim  the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  to  all  the  people  ; 
they  attended  on  him  during  his  ministry,  and  witnessed 
his  sufferings,  his  agony  and  death.  But  the  work  being 
accomplished,  and  the  Redeemer  having  declared  upon 
the  cross,  "  It  is  finished,"  there  remained  nothing  more  for 
them  to  do,  than  to  rejoice  over  the  repenting  sinner  ;  and 
to  minister  unto  those  thus  constituted  heirs  of  salvation. 
To  the  fallen  race  itself  was  the  great  commission  given  ; 
and  men  are  constituted  ambassadors  for  Christ.  In  the 
selection  of  these  heralds  too,  as  it  has  been  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  ever  shall  be,  the  great  Head  of  the  church 
displays  his  mysterious  sovereignty.  Pertinent  to  angels, 
and  unanswerable  is,  in  this  respect,  the  inquiry,  "  Who 
hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord ;  or  who  hath  been  his 
counselor  ?"  Not  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not  many 
mighty,  not  many  noble,  are  called ;  but  God  hath  chosen 
the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  which 
are  mighty.  Passing  by  the  educated,  the  scribe,  the  phi- 
losopher, he  selects  and  sends  forth,  in  many  instances, 
those  whom  finite  creatures  deem  the  most  unlikely  ;  and, 
as  it  was  when  he  of  Tarsus  first  "preached  the  faith 
which  once  he  destroyed,"  oft  repeated  is  the  question,  ex- 
pressive of  astonishment,  "  Is  Saul  among  the  prophets  ?" 

But  more  than  this.  The  iimnediate  context  refers  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  gospel  is  preached  as  one  of  the 
things  into  which  angels  desire  to  look.  It  is  "  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven."  Nothing  else  is 
"  preaching,"  There  may  be  a  well-written  sermon ;  it 
may  be  strictly  orthodox,  abounding  in  Scriptural  quota- 
tions, and,  according  to  the  nicest  rules  of  the  art,  oratori- 
cally  delivered.  Those  who  hear,  may  admire  in  mute 
astonishment ;  and  this  admiration  may  reflect  upon  the 


v.]  SALVATION MYSTERIOUS  AND   GLORIOUS.  77 

speaker  a  very  grateful  self-complacency.  He  may  deem 
himself  an  Apollos, — a  son  of  consolation,  or  a  son  of 
thunder,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  his  hearers  may  indorse 
the  opinion.  But  if  God  be  not  with  him  in  the  pulpit, 
if  the  Spirit  touch  not  his  lips  with  fire,  if  he  speak  not 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven — he  does  not 
preach.  There  is  nothing  in  his  performance  calculated 
to  convert  the  sinner,  or  to  save  the  soul ;  nothing  there 
into  which  angels  desire  to  look  beyond  what  they  might 
find  in  the  manly  declamations  of  the  senate,  or  the  dainty 
eloquence  of  the  stage.  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power, 
but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts ;"  and  while  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  are  the  grand  mystery  of  heaven,  and 
the  only  means  of  procuring  salvation,  equally  essential,  if 
not  equally  mysterious,  is  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  every  sermon  by  which  those  sufferings  are  rendered 
effectual.  This  leads  me  to  notice  another,  and,  perhaps, 
to  angels,  a  still  greater  mystery  in  this  subject  of  their 
study.     I  mean, 

5.  The  manner  in  which  the  tidings  of  this  salvation, 
even  when  preached  with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from 
heaven,  are  received  hy  the  children  of  men. 

(1.)  By  some,  readily  and  with  eagerness.  Their  spirits 
drink  in  the  balmy  sound  on  its  first  announcement.  In 
the  language  of  Job :  "  God  maketh  their  hearts  soft." 
With  the  trembling  jailer  they  ask,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved  ?" — and  do  it.  With  them — and  instances  have  been 
witnessed  among  the  most  abandoned,  as  well  as  among 
those  whom  the  world  calls  moral — conviction  is  as  the 
flash  preceding  the  report  which  echoes  through  the  vaulted 
domes  of  the  celestial  city,  that  another  is  added  to  the 
heavenly  family  ;  the  prelude  to  the  swelling  anthem,  by 
which  those  who  stand  in  the  presence  of  God  manifest 
greater  joy  than  is  called  forth  by  the  upright  conduct  of 
ninety  and  nine  just  persons  who  need  no  repentance. 

(2.)  Others,  in  the  startling  language  of  the  first  mar- 
tyr, "  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost."  Not  once,  or 
twice,  but  always ;  and,  to  heighten  this  mystery,  let  me 
add,  their  resistance  is  effectual.  In  this  sense,  the  insect 
man  is  more  than  an  equal  in  the  contest  with  the  God 
who  made  him.  Strange  mystery !  We  have  no  right  to 
suppose,  nay,  we  cannot  conceive  it  possible,  that  angels 


78  SALVATION MYSTERIOUS  AND    GLORIOUS.       [SEB. 

have  this  power ;  but  that  man  has  it,  is  equally  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Scriptures  and  the  dictate  of  experience.  In 
childhood,  in  youth,  in  manhood,  in  old  age ;  busied  with 
the  anxious  cares  of  life,  or  in  pursuit  of  the  bubble  repu- 
tation ;  in  health  and  in  sickness  ;  yea,  upon  the  panting 
bed  of  death,  and  even  down  to  the  moment  when  the 
quivering  spirit  wings  her  flight  to  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  man  has  the  power  to  resist  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and 
— does  resist  him. 

(3.)  Yet  others,  and  among  them  the  great  majority  of 
those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  attending  upon  the  public 
worship  of  God,  partially  yield  to  the  strivings  of  the 
Spirit.  They  lay  down  some  of  the  weapons  of  their  re- 
bellion. They  would  give  him  their  hearts,  if  it  were 
possible,  piecemeal.  When  they  say  to  the  Holy  Ghost, 
"  Go  thy  way,"  they  are  careful  to  add,  "  for  this  time." 
They  have  no  intention  of  so  fighting  against  him  as  to 
induce  his  final  flight.  They  halt  and  hesitate.  They 
weep  over  their  sins  to-day ;  and  to-morrow  they  will  re- 
pent and  give  their  hearts  to  God.  In  heaven's  register 
are  their  ten  thousand  vows  of  amendment  and  reforma- 
tion recorded,  and  against  each  is  written — broken.  For 
years,  ministering  spirits  have  been  about  thy  path,  sinner, 
wondering  at  the  unwearied  efforts  of  Him  who  standeth 
at  the  door  and  knocks ;  still  are  they  waiting  for  the 
signal  which  shall  warrant  the  tuning  of  celestial  harps  for 
joy  at  thy  repentance.  How  this  conduct  appears  to  thy- 
self I  know  not.  To  them  who  view  it  by  the  same  light 
in  which  God  sees  it,  beyond  a  doubt  it  is  wondrously 
strange, — ^unfathomably  mysterious. 

II.  But  this  subject  of  angelic  study  is  infinitely  glo- 
rious. The  fact  declared  in  the  text  is  ample  proof  of 
this  position.  Into  the  wonders  of  nature,  the  mysteries 
of  Providence,  the  revolution  of  the  planets,  the  creation 
of  new,  or  the  destruction  of  old  worlds,  it  is  not  said 
they  desire  to  look.  Possibly  all  these  things  engage  a 
share  of  their  attention  ;  for,  like  ourselves,  they  are  finite, 
and  grow  in  wisdom  and  increase  in  knowledge.  But  in 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  man's  salvation  ;  in  the  plan 
of  human  redemption,  devised  by  infinite  wisdom  and  exe- 
cuted by  infinite  love,  they  fiiid  a  subject  of  study  infinitely 
glorious. 


V.J  SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS  AND  GLORIOUS.  79 

First,  in  its  exhibition  of  the  divine  character.  It  re- 
calls, and  continually  shows  forth,  an  attribute  of  the  great 
Supreme,  with  which  the  universe  had  been  otherwise 
unacquainted.  Their  own  existence  attests  his  goodness; 
and  every  successive  moment  of  unalloyed  and  increasing 
bliss  heightens  that  grateful  feeling,  which  prompts  the 
exclamation,  O  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good !  They 
knew  his  power  also.  They  were  with  him  when  he 
stretched  the  north  over  the  empty  place,  and  hung  the 
earth  upon  nothing.  They  heard  that  voice  which  said, 
"  Let  there  be  light ;  and  there  was  light ;  and  they  shouted 
for  joy  when  the  morning  stars  first  sang  together,  and 
the  Creator's  last  day's  work  was  done."  They  knew  him 
also  as  a  God  o{  justice,  taking  vengeance  upon  the  guilty. 
They  had  seen  their  associates,  who  had  revolted  from 
their  allegiance,  hurled  headlong  into  hell ;  and  the  smoke 
of  their  torment  excites,  amid  the  celestial  ranks,  the 
exclamation,  "Who  shall  not  fear  thee,  O  Lord,  and  glo- 
rify thy  name  ?"  But  never,  until  the  fulfillment  of  the 
declaration,  "  Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will !"  never,  until  the 
claims  of  a  broken  law  were  satisfied,  and  Christ  had 
drained  the  dregs  of  the  bitter  cup,  and  ascended  up  on 
high,  leading  captivity  captive,  knew  they  the  mercy  of 
Him  who  hateth  iniquity,  and  who  cannot  look  on  sin. 
Here  they  see  his  compassion,  and  his  readiness  to  forgive. 
Here  is  found  an  answer  to  the  otherwise  eternally  un- 
solved problem,  "  How  can  God  be  just,  and  justify  the 
ungodly?"  It  is  an  infinitely  glorious  study  therefore, 
because  in  it  is  seen,  and  will  be  seen  for  ever,  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  prophet's  declaration,  "  Mercy  and  truth 
have  met  together ;  righteousness  and  peace  have  kissed 
each  other." 

2.  The  transforming  efficacy  of  the  plan  of  redemption 
indicates  its  glory.  It  is  a  glorious  study  to  trace  its  effects 
upon  nations ;  and  well  may  angels  desire  to  look  into  the 
progress  of  a  people  from  savage  barbarism  to  civilized 
refinement;  from  lust,  and  rapine,  and  blood,  to  a  pure 
and  spiritual  devotion ;  and  to  the  triumphing  and  the 
abounding  eveiy  where  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  Utterly 
vain  have  been  attempts  to  civilize,  independently  of  the 
preaching  of  salvation  by  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  Send 
them  the  gospel  first ;  and  then,  when  the  prophet's  ques- 


80  SALVATION MYSTERIOUS   AND   GLORIOUS.        [SER. 

tion,  "  Hath  a  nation  changed  their  gods  ?"  is  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  the  blessings  of  civilization  and  refinement 
follow  in  her  train.  An  uncivilized  Christian  nation  is  an 
unheard-of  anomaly ;  and  in  the  progress  of  God's  scheme 
for  saving  our  world,  angels  see,  as  man  might  see,  did 
he  not  shut  his  eyes,  that  the  time  is  coming  when  this 
earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  God  ;  and  that  every 
trophy  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  every  sinner  saved  by 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  is  at  once  a  seal  attesting  the 
truth  of  the  prediction,  and  an  agent  to  bring  about  its 
fulfillment.  In  the  individual  convert  himself  is  seen  the 
wondrous  transforming  efficacy  of  the  plan  of  salvation. 
The  tiger  is  changed  into  the  lamb ;  the  blood-thirsty  per- 
secutor into  the  apostolic  martyr ;  a  child  of  wrath,  an  heir 
of  hell,  becomes  a  son  of  God;  a  fellow-citizen  of  the 
saints,  an  equal  with  angels,  (Luke  xx,  36,)  a  co-heir  with 
Christ  himself.     This  leads  to  the  remark  that, 

3.  Its  diffusive  nature  renders  God's  method  of  saving 
sinners  a  suitable  subject  for  angelic  study.  Once  they 
were  sent  on  an  embassy  to  announce  his  birth,  and  to 
make  the  first  proclamation  of  Heaven's  good-will  to  man. 
Even  yet,  as  they  shall  continue  to  be,  until  commissioned 
to  reap  and  gather  in  the  harvest,  are  they  ministering 
spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  for  them  who  shall  be  heirs 
of  salvation.  But  they  have  no  agency  in  diffusing  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel.  It  is  left  to  itself.  Man,  redeem- 
ed and  regenerated,  is  to  tell  the  story.  It  is  itself  the 
leaven  that  is  to  leaven  the  whole  lumj).  True,  as  before 
remarked,  independently  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  aid,  even 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  a  vain  thing,  and  without 
him,  learning  and  eloquence  can  do  nothing ;  yet  is  it 
equally  true,  that  every  disciple  who  pleases  may  have 
that  Spirit's  influence ;  and  the  first  prompting  of  every 
converted  sinner's  heart  is  to  glorify  God,  by  proclaiming 
how  great  things  he  hath  done ;  and  by  inviting  others  to 
participate  in  the  same  blessedness.  Under  a  great  mis- 
take, indeed,  are  multitudes  of  professing  Christians,  when 
they  imagine  their  own  individual  happiness  was  the  first 
or  chief  object  of  the  Almighty  in  their  conversion.  That 
they  might  be  happy !  Were  that  all,  he  might  at  once, 
and  he  would,  have  translated  them  away  from  this  region 
of  temptation  and  trial,  to  that  rest  which  remaineth  for 


v.]  SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS  AND   GLORIOUS.  81 

the  people  of  God.  No ;  his  first  great  object  was  the 
advancement  of  his  own  glorj,  by  adding  another  to  the 
army  by  whom  a  world  is  to  be  brought  into  allegiance  to 
its  Maker  and  its  Saviour.  That  this  is  true,  is  seen  in 
the  fact  that  Christians  are  happy  here  just  in  proportion 
as  they  continue  to  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
his  righteousness.  Let  them,  as  is,  alas !  the  case  with 
too  many,  let  them  wrap  themselves  in  selfishness,  and  sit 
down,  exclaiming,  I  have  passed  from  death  unto  life,  and 
now  I'll  be  happy ;  and  soon  will  the  light  that  is  in  them 
become  darkness.  Not  into  the  history  or  the  conduct  of 
such  professors  do  angels  desire  to  look ;  but  into  the  re- 
sults of  that  glorious  copartnership,  into  which  the  Almighty, 
passing  by  the  first-born  sons  of  light,  has  taken  the  convert- 
ed sinner,  and  enabled  him,  with  all  his  redeemed  brethren 
of  the  race,  to  exclaim,  "  We  are  laborers  together  with 
God!" 

4.  The  glory  of  this  study  is  seen  further  in  the  freeness 
with  which  the  blessings  of  this  salvation  are  offered  to  the 
children  of  men. 

(1.)  To  all  indiscriminately.  It  stops  not  to  inquire 
into  the  degree  of  the  sinner's  guilt,  or  the  extent  of  his 
iniquity.  As  the  Saviour,  when  on  earth  he  healed  the 
lepers,  unstopped  the  ears  of  the  deaf,  and  on  the  sightless 
eyeball  poured  the  day,  asked  no  questions  as  to  the  viru- 
lence or  the  duration  of  the  malady ;  so,  salvation  by  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  is  offered  not  only  to  the  moralist,  and 
the  good  citizen,  but  to  the  profligate  and  the  abandoned ; 
to  every  wretched  outcast  on  this  side  of  the  caverns  of 
damnation.     And  this 

(2.)  In  perfect  sincerity.  O  what  a  diminution  of  its 
glory,  if  the  doctrine  had  ever  reached  heaven,  and  were 
believed  there,  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  designed 
for  but  a  portion  of  the  race,  and  that  its  blessings  were 
limited  to  a  few  !  Or  worse  still,  if  upon  angelic  ears  had 
fallen  that  modification  of  the  doctrine,  which  could  not 
have  failed  to  impress  on  angelic  hearts  a  doubt  of  God's 
sincerity : — Offered  to  all,  but  intended  for  a  few ! 

(3.)  On  terms  easy,  and  within  the  reach  of  every  indi- 
vidual. Is  it  asked.  Why  has  faith  been  made  the  condition 
of  this  salvation?  The  answer  is — How  could  anything 
else  have  been  made  that  condition  ?     For,  admitting  that 


82  SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS  AND  GLORIOUS.        [SER. 

.some  other  plan  had  been  devised,  it  had  been  essentially 
necessary  to  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  that  plan  before  the 
sinner  could  have  reaped  from  it  any  benefit.  Hence  it  is 
morally  impossible  that  salvation  could  have  been  offered 
on  any  other  terms,  than  either  faith  alone,  or  faith  and 
something  else.  God  chose  the  former ;  and  while  therein 
is  revealed  the  brightest  glimpse  that  finite  creatures  can 
have  of  the  riches  of  his  goodness  and  his  glory,  man  is 
taught,  that  not  for  his  violations  of  the  moral  law  he 
perishes,  but  for  refusing  to  believe.  An  atonement  has 
been  made  for  actual  transgression,  and  "  he,"  and  he  only, 
"  who  believeth  not,  shall  be  damned."     But  further, 

5.  The  perpetuity  and  the  fullness  of  the  blessings  of  this 
salvation  evince  its  glory,  and  render  it  a  study  worthy  of 
angelic  minds.  A  glorious  mystery  is  couched  in  that 
description  of  Him  by  whose  sufferings  this  salvation  was 
effected,  when  he  is  styled  "the  Lamb  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  !"  In  "  looking  into  these  things," 
they  gaze  not  merely  upon  Gethsemane  and  Calvary. 
They  date  not  the  commencement  of  this  glory  from  what 
we  call  the  fullness  of  time.  They  go  back  beyond  the 
father  of  the  faithful,  who  rejoiced  to  see  "  his  day."  They 
beheld  the  slaughtered  Lamb  in  the  typical  sacrifices  of 
righteous  Abel ;  they  heard  of  Christ  in  the  enigmatical 
promise  to  our  first  parents.  Reaching  back  to  the  origi- 
nal transgression,  and  extending  in  its  efficacious  fullness 
onward  to  the  end  of  time,  they  desire  to  look  into  that 
fountain  still  unexhausted,  and  for  ever  inexhaustible,  in 
which  a  world  may  wash  away  its  stains — all  its  stains — 
for  it  cleanses  "  from  all  unrighteousness."  Crimson  and 
scarlet  become  like  wool  and  snow.  Even  on  this  doomed 
earth,  surrounded  by  iniquity,  and  exposed,  now  to  the 
roaring  of  him  who  goetli  about  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour,  and  now  to  the  allurements  of  an  apparent  angel 
of  light,  a  feeble  worm  of  the  dust  is  seen  by  these  heavenly 
students  able  to  "do  all  things,"  and  "more  than  con- 
queror." It  may  be  fairly  questioned  whether,  in  all  the 
universe  of  God,  is  to  be  seen  a  more  glorious  spectacle 
than  angels  gaze  upon,  when,  in  this  tainted  atmosphere — 
tempted  but  triumphant — they  mark  the  perfect  man  and 
behold  the  upright. 

Nor  does  even  this  indicate  the  extent  of  the  glory  of 


v.]  SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS  AND  GLORIOUS.  SS 

*'the  things  into  which  angels  desire  to  look."  The  beloved 
disciple,  when  in  apocalyptic  vision  his  attention  was  direct- 
ed to  the  inner  ranks  of  those  concentric  circles  of  which 
God  is  the  centre,  was  told,  "  These  are  they  which  came 
out  of  deep  tribulation,  and  have  washed  their  robes,  and 
made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  They  were 
redeemed  sinners,  the  children  of  men  saved  by  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ,  and  exalted  thereby  to  a  degree  of  glory 
above  that  of  the  first-created,  who  knew  no  sin  and  need- 
ed no  atonement.  Well  may  they  desire  to  look  into  the 
mystery  and  the  glory  of  that  salvation  which  exalts  a  cor- 
rupt nature  and  an  actual  transgressor  to  an  eminence 
that  angels  may  not  reach.  He  whom  they  worship  as 
sovereign  took  upon  him  our  nature,  and  is  not  ashamed 
to  call  us  brethren ! 

In  conclusion  I  remark, 

First.  This  subject  cannot  be  made  too  frequently  the 
theme  of  the  pulpit.  It  is  the  grand  central  truth  around 
which,  as  the  lesser  lights  around  the  sun,  all  others  revolve 
in  glorious  harmony.  It  is  the  burden  of  the  new  song — 
it  is  always  7iew  I 

It  is  not  strange,  I  remark, 

Secondly,  that  there  are  mysteries  in  the  scheme  of 
redemption  which  man  cannot  fathom.  It  will  be  for  ever 
true,  in  heaven  as  well  as  on  earth — "  Great  is  the  mys- 
tery of  godliness."     Its  mystery  is  its  glory. 

Finally.  I  ask,  what  manner  of  man  must  he  be  who 
deems  it  beneath  Ms  notice  ?  Is  he  too  wise  to  pay  any 
attention  to  that  into  which  angels  desire  to  look  ?  Strange 
folly — miserable  infatuation — madness — that  he  for  whom 
the  mystery  and  the  glory  of  this  salvation  have  been 
revealed  should  turn  from  it,  and  allow  his  attention  to  be 
engrossed  by  the  world,  by  its  veriest  trifles,  by  anything, 
rather  than  that  into  which  angels  desire  to  look,  and  an 
acquaintance  with  which  can  alone  save  liim  from  hell,  and 
secure  his  immortality ! 


84  TALENT.  [SER. 


SERMON  VI. 

Talent. 

BY  REV.  JESSE  T.  PECK,  D.  D., 

PRINCIPAL    OF   TROY    CONFERENCE    ACADEMY. 

"  For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  a  man  traveling  into  a  far 
country,  Avho  called  his  o^^^l  servants,  and  delivered  unto  them  his 
goods.  And  unto  one  he  gave  five  talents,  to  another  two,  and  to  an- 
other one ;  to  every  man  according  to  his  several  ability,  and  straight- 
way took  his  journey.  Then  he  that  had  received  the  five  talents, 
went  and  traded  with  the  same,  and  made  them  other  five  talents. 
And  likewise  he  that  had  received  two,  he  also  gained  other  two. 
But  he  that  had  received  one,  went  and  digged  in  the  earth,  and  hid 
his  lord's  money.  After  a  long  time  the  lord  of  those  servants  cometh 
and  reckoneth  with  them,"  &c. — Matthew  xxv,  14-30. 

The  "talent"  was  originally  a  species  of  coin.  Meta- 
phorically, it  was  used  to  represent  human  ability,  natural 
gift  or  endowment ;  and  this  figurative,  has  at  length  be- 
come its  literal,  use.  Theologically,  it  signifies  whatever 
is  intrusted  to  man  by  his  Maker,  to  enable  him  to  fulfill 
the  high  end  of  his  creation,  and  is  made  to  constitute  the 
ground  and  measure  of  human  responsibility.  We  use  it 
in  this  latter  sense  ;  and  the  substance  of  what  we  intend  to 
say  on  this  theme  will  be  included  in  the  folloAving  proposi- 
tions : — 

I.  God  has  made  a  ivise  distribution  of  talent  amcng 
men. 

II.  He  righteously  requires  the  faithful  improvement  of 
the  talent  given. 

III.  He  has  appointed  a  day  of  reckoning  for  the  use  or 
abuse  of  talent. 

I.  God  has  made  a  wise  distribution  of  talent  among 
men. 

"  For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  a  man  traveling  into 
a  far  country,  who  called  his  own  servants,  and  delivered 
unto  them  his  goods.  And  unto  one  he  gave  five  talents,  to 
another  two,  and  to  another  one." 

1.  Physical  talent.  This  is  perhaps  the  lowest  order  of 
talent ;  but  it  will  be  found  to  include  more,  and  involve 
higher  responsibilities,  than  is  commonly  supposed.     Con- 


VI.]  TALENT.  85 

sider,  for  instance,  the  organs  and  functions  of  life,  including 
the  arrangements  for  nutrition  and  assimilation,  by  which 
the  body  is  supported,  and  its  wastes  are  mysteriously  sup- 
plied ;  the  circulating  system,  by  which  the  blood  is  carried 
to  every  part  of  the  corporeal  frame ;  and  the  organs  of 
resphation,  by  which  the  vital  properties  of  atmospheric 
air  are  appropriated  to  the  wants  of  the  system.  This 
wonderful  power  of  life,  so  concealed  and  incomprehensible, 
must  be  a  talent  committed  to  us  by  God,  and  requiring 
the  constant  action  of  creative  power  for  its  support.  It  is 
so  common  that  we  are  apt  to  consider  it  as  a  thing  of 
course,  or  as  self-productive,  and  therefore  lose  the  moral 
effect  which  it  ought  to  produce.  But  let  man  attempt  to 
create  it,  or  to  sustain  it,  when  God  withdraws  from  it  his 
vital  energies,  and  he  will  be  forced  to  feel  that  it  is  a 
blessing  for  which  he  is  indebted  to  a  power  infinitely  above 
himself. 

Consider  the  physical  arrangements  for  intelligence  and 
enjoyment.  Mind  is  unquestionably  the  subject  of  both ; 
but  physical  objects  affect  mind  through  physical  organs. 
These  organs  are  curiously  wrought,  and  perfectly  adapted 
to  the  laws  of  the  internal  and  the  external  world.  With- 
out the  organ  of  smell,  the  odoriferous  particles  of  matter, 
and  the  mental  power  to  discriminate  odors,  would  both  be 
useless ;  and,  of  course,  man  would  be  destitute  of  the  guards 
which  this  sense  furnishes  against  what  is  fetid  and  un- 
wholesome, and  of  the  pleasures  which  now  arise  from 
the  rich  perfumery  of  nature.  Without  the  organs  of  taste, 
we  should  foil  to  judge  between  wholesome  and  noxious 
food  ;  be  destitute  of  the  pleasures  of  the  palate,  and  of 
the  discriminations  of  sapid  qualities.  Without  the  organs 
of  hearing,  we  should  have  no  knowledge  of  simple  ele- 
mentary sounds,  no  knowledge  of  the  differences  of  sounds, 
of  the  position  of  sounding  bodies,  or  of  the  meaning  of 
sounds.  We  should  be  without  the  enjoyment  which  all 
this  knowledge  produces,  and  that  which  arises  from  the 
constitutional  adaptation  of  the  soul  to  the  beauties  of 
the  vocal  world.  Without  the  organs  of  touch,  we  should 
be  utterly  incapable  of  sensation ;  we  should  have  no  idea 
of  externality,  of  extension  and  shape,  of  size  and  distance, 
of  hardness  and  softness,  of  roughness  and  smoothness,  or 
of  heat  and  cold ;  and  of  course  be  entirely  destitute  of 


86  TALENT.  [SEE. 

nervous  pleasure  and  protection.  Without  the  organs  of 
sight,  the  beauties  of  color,  with  all  the  pleasure  and  con- 
veniences which  light  affords,  would  be  for  ever  unknown. 
And  who,  we  ask,  has  formed  these  organs,  so  exquisitely 
wrought,  and  wonderfully  adapted  to  their  respective  ends  ? 
Reason  and  Scripture  answer — God.  They  must,  there- 
fore, be  regarded  as  an  important  class  of  physical  talents, 
involving  obligations  and  responsibilities  peculiar  to  them- 
selves. 

Consider,  further,  the  power  of  activity.  Of  what  avail 
would  have  been  the  functions  of  life,  and  the  organs  of 
sense,  if  man  had  been  destitute  of  adequate  muscular 
power  ?  In  his  present  state  labor  is  his  appropriate  sphere. 
His  daily  bread,  as  well  as  his  health  and  happiness,  de- 
pends upon  it.  But  without  the  poAver  of  motion,  under 
the  control  of  the  will,  labor  would  be  impracticable,  and 
all  other  functions  of  the  body  would  be  useless,  or  utterly 
destroyed.  This  power  of  locomotion  and  strength,  under 
the  guidance  of  reason,  of  cultivating  the  soil,  converting 
the  raw  material  into  forms  of  convenience  and  beauty,  and 
of  equalizing  the  accommodations  of  the  race  by  commercial 
activity,  is  all  the  wonderful  gift  of  God.  Its  evident  im- 
portance to  the  well-being  of  man  should  inspire  us  with 
gratitude,  and  excite  the  most  anxious  inquiry  into  the  ob- 
ligations it  involves. 

This  is  a  brief  outline  of  man's  intrinsic  physical  talents. 
Wealth  is  also  physical,  but  extrinsic.  Whether  it  is  acquir- 
ed by  possession,  by  inheritance,  or  by  industry,  property  is 
the  gift  of  God.  It  is  true  that  political  economy  shows 
man  to  be  the  intelligent  voluntary  agent  in  the  production 
of  wealth.  But  who  made  the  material  world  in  its  primi- 
tive state  ?  Who  formed  the  earth  with  a  productive  soil  ? 
Who  arranged  the  elements,  and  active  agencies,  by  which 
the  earth  is  replenished,  and  its  spent  energies  are  restored  ? 
Who  sends  the  fertilizing  showers?  And  who  has  fur- 
nished the  very  powers  by  which  man  has  carried  on  all 
his  schemes  of  agricultural,  mechanical,  and  professional 
activity  ?  We  call  our  lands  our  own,  and  value  ourselves 
upon  the  sovereign  control  of  our  earthly  estates,  little 
regarding  the  important  truth,  that  they  are  "  our  Lord's 
money,"   lent   to   us,  "to   every   man    according   to   his 


VI.]  TALENT.  87 

several  ability/*  for  a  limited  period,  and  for  definite  and 
specified  purposes. 

2.  Intellectual  talent.  This  is  a  higher  order  of  talent. 
It  marks  the  grade  of  man  "  above  the  beasts  that  perish.'* 
It  includes  the  power  to  know,  the  power  to  think,  and  the 
power  to  reason. 

The  power  to  know  is,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  without 
limit.  It  embraces  the  facts  of  the  world  revealed  to  sensa- 
tion, or  the  primary  and  secondary  properties  of  bodies  ;  the 
facts  revealed  to  consciousness,  or  the  state  of  the  mind  at 
any  given  time ;  the  facts  revealed  in  reason,  or  the  truths 
drawn  from  a  comparison  of  related  ideas ;  and  the  facts 
revealed  to  faith,  or  the  truths  of  history  and  revelation. 
The  particulars  which  these  generals  include  are  to  us 
incalculable  or  infinite ;  hence,  whatever  may  be  the  pro- 
gression of  mind  in  intelligence,  its  objects  will  never  be 
exhausted.  Hoav  far,  then,  beyond  human  estimate  must 
be  the  value  of  this  talent ! 

The  power  to  think  is  a  subtil  and  almost  indefinable 
power.  To  appreciate  it,  we  must  study  the  nature  of 
thought,  the  objects  of  thought,  and  the  government  of 
thought.  In  nature,  it  is  that  kind  of  mental  activity 
which  tests  the  quality,  the  value,  and  the  uses,  of  our 
intelligence.  It  is  the  mind  busied  with  what  it  knows. 
Its  notice  of  an  element  of  intelligence  is  sometinies  single 
and  momentary — sometimes  various  and  long-continued. 
The  objects  of  thought  may  be  ideas  of  perception,  as 
when  the  mind  is  busied  with  the  mental  states  produced 
by  external  objects;  ideas  of  consciousness,  as  when  it 
dwells  upon  the  truths  which  the  mind  has  revealed  to  its 
observation  upon  itself;  ideas  of  reason,  or  inferential 
truths ;  or  ideas  of  fiction,  as  those  which  are  produced  by 
imagination  from  our  conceptions.  Thought  is  governed 
by  the  laws  of  association.  All  thoughts  have  an  intimate, 
though  often  mysterious,  connection  among  themselves.  It 
is  believed  that  none  are  isolated  or  independent  of  those 
which  precede  them,  except  such  as  arise  directly  from 
sensation.  But  the  laws  of  association  produce  the  great- 
est novelty,  variety,  and  eccentricity,  in  the  trains  of 
thought,  so  much  so,  that  in  the  absence  of  any  other 
governing  faculty,  this  power  would  be  rather  a  source  of 


88  TALENT.  [SER. 

amusement  than  instruction.  The  will  interposes.  It 
governs  thought  chiefly,  by  fixing  the  attention  upon  one 
train  in  preference  to  another,  and  thus  the  unbidden  or 
unwelcome  thought  disappears  for  want  of  attention.  The 
will  is  influenced  in  its  determinations  by  curiosity,  by 
passion,  by  interest,  by  authority,  and  by  habit.  This 
power  of  controlling  thought — fugitive  and  capricious  as  it 
is — by  volition,  is  wonderfully  mysterious,  but  of  vast 
importance.  It  reduces  chaos  to  order,  and  renders  the 
whole  available  as  a  source  of  improvement  and  happiness. 
And  who  can  contemplate  the  restless  but  controlled 
activity  of  mind,  revolving,  analyzing,  and  appropriating 
the  vast  amount  of  its  intelligence,  without  being  impressed 
with  the  inestimable  value  of  this  exalted  talent  ? 

The  power  to  reason  is  more  generally  known.  It  is 
the  power  of  drawing  conclusions  from  a  comparison  of  re- 
lated ideas,  and  implies  the  action  of  association,  volition, 
attention,  abstraction,  comparison,  and  judgment.  It  is  one 
of  the  noblest  distinguishing  characteristics  of  man.  With- 
out it  he  would  cease  to  be  man.  He  might,  indeed,  have 
perceptions  and  passions  like  the  lower  animals  ;  but  the 
wonders  of  discovery  by  which  he  is  now  distinguished,  the 
high  range  of  activity,  the  lofty  stretch  of  genius,  and  the 
elevated  power  of  pleasure,  must  be  exchanged  for  mere 
animal  exercises  and  enjoyments.  Reason  is  dependent 
upon  the  power  to  know,  and  the  power  to  think ;  and, 
perhaps,  in  man,  they  mutually  imply  each  other.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  it  is  certain,  that  if  reason  were  de- 
stroyed or  dethroned,  intellect  would  be  degraded,  and 
mind  lose  its  identity.     How  invaluable  then  the  talent ! 

3.  3Ioral  talent.  This  must  be  regarded  as  the  highest 
order  of  talent,  because  it  has  most  to  do  with  the  happi- 
ness of  man,  and  the  glory  of  God.  It  includes,  intrinsi- 
cally, the  power  of  moral  discriminations,  of  moral  impul- 
sions, and  moral  retributions. 

The  discriminating  power  of  conscience  is  partly  intui- 
tive in  its  action,  as  when  the  decisions  between  right  and 
wrong  are  instantaneous,  without  the  knowledge  of  any 
reason  upon  which  they  are  founded  ;  and  partly  deductive, 
as  when  the  mind  upon  deliberation,  greater  or  less,  decides 
a  thing  to  be  right  or  wrong  for  a  recognized  reason. 
The  power  of  moral  distinctions,  whether  intuitive  or  de- 


VI.]  TALENT.  89 

ductive,  must  be  regarded  as  of  paramount  importance. 
Let  it  once  be  annihilated,  so  that  right  and  wrong,  virtue 
and  vice,  are  confounded,  and  man  would  be  left  to  the 
uninterrupted  dominion  of  innate  corruption,  and  society  be 
inevitably  destroyed. 

Moral  impulsions,  I  think,  are  also  sometimes  intuitive, 
or,  if  you  please,  the  spontaneous  promptings  of  our  high 
and  noble  moral  constitution.  Sometimes  the  sensibilities 
are  involved,  and  a  man  is  impelled  by  his  feelings  to  do 
or  not  to  do.  Sometimes  reason  is  involved,  and  then  a 
man  is  impelled  to  do  the  right  or  not  to  do  the  wrong, 
by  conclusions  drawn  from  a  comparison  of  related  ideas. 
The  power  of  sensibility  and  the  power  of  reason  may,  as  I 
suppose,  act  separately  or  conjointly.  An  impulse  against 
the  wrong,  and  in  favor  of  the  right,  from  either  source,  is 
undoubtedly  authoritative;  but  when  the  promptings  of 
instinct  are  sustained  by  those  of  feeling  and  of  reason, 
they  raise  a  most  formidable  barrier  to  the  progress  of 
vice,  and  afford  the  highest  inducements  to  the  practice  of 
virtue.  But  what  would  be  the  result,  if  man  were  desti- 
tute of  an  impulsive  conscience  ?  Would  not  his  moral 
constitution  be  essentially  defective  ?  He  might  make  all 
the  distinctions  between  virtue  and  vice,  piety  and  im- 
piety ;  but  he  would  not  be  aware  of  more  obligation  to  the 
one  than  to  the  other.  Corrupted  passion,  excited  curi- 
osity, and  all  the  blind  selfishness  of  his  soul,  would  urge 
him  on  irresistibly  to  sin  and  perdition.  How  invaluable, 
then,  that  moral  arrangement  by  which  this  seemingly  in- 
evitable tendency  to  destruction  is  counteracted  !  A  mighty 
voice  thunders  from  the  deep  recesses  of  the  soul  in  re- 
monstrance against  the  meditated  crime,  and  the  secret 
whispers  of  conscience  invite  and  allure  him  to  the  deci- 
sions of  virtue,  and  the  way  to  God  and  heaven. 

Moral  retributions  are  partly  constitutional,  and  partly 
voluntary.  It  is  not  wholly  optional  with  the  sinner  whether 
he  will  or  not  be  lashed  by  conscience  for  his  disobedience. 
It  is  a  law  of  his  moral  nature  to  bring  upon  him  the  sad, 
sickening  thought,  that  he  has  dishonored  himself  and  in- 
sulted his  Maker,  his  "secret  faults"  and  "presumptuous 
sins."  This  is  what  haunts  him  by  day  and  by  night,  fills 
his  bed  with  coals  of  fire,  and  turns  his  bosom  into  a  hell ! 
But  voluntary  reflection  will  give  a  man  sorrow  for  rea- 


90  TALENT.  [SER. 

sons,  and  make  his  deliberate  deductions  the  immediate 
source  of  his  torment.  It  is  fearful  to  endure  the 
reproaches  of  conscience,  arising  spontaneously  from  the 
mere  fact  of  a  corrupted  heart,  or  a  vicious  life ;  but  a  re- 
cognition of  the  holiness  of  God,  and  the  purity  of  his  law  ; 
of  the  sacredness  of  violated  relations,  and  the  recklessness 
of  a  sinful  life,  gives  definiteness  to  the  guilt,  and  poignancy 
to  the  suffering.  The  same  law  holds  true  in  regard  to  the 
pleasures  of  a  mind  obedient  to  conscience.  They  arise 
spontaneously  from  the  mere  fact  of  the  right,  or  they  are 
produced  by  voluntarily  contemplating  the  right,  and  in 
either  case  their  obvious  design  is  to  encourage  obedience 
to  the  laws  of  our  being. 

These  are  the  intrinsic  moral  talents  committed  to  men  ; 
and  they  include  the  power  of  indefinite  moral  develop- 
ment, of  unlimited  moral  excellence,  and  of  infinite  increase 
in  happiness.  Besides  these,  in  a  theological  sense,  there 
are  extrinsic  moral  talents  of  vast  importance,  with  which 
God  has  favored  us.  Christ  is  a  talent  of  priceless  worth. 
The  Holy  Ghost,  the  revelation  of  God,  the  ministry  of 
the  word,  and  the  prayers,  exhortations,  and  examples  of 
good  men,  are  gifts  of  God  for  the  most  exalted  purposes. 
Learning  is  talent.  Genius  is  talent.  Place,  oflSce,  and 
influence,  are  talents,  unequally,  it  is  true,  but  wisely  dis- 
tributed, at  least  so  far  as  they  depend  upon  God.  His 
rules  of  distribution,  it  is  true,  are  wholly  beyond  the  reach 
of  our  intelligence,  but  they  have  their  vindication  in  the 
eternal  rectitude  of  the  Infinite  Mind. 

II.  God  righteously  requires  the  faithful  improvement  of 
*hese  talents. 

1.  I'his  is  argued  from  the  fact  of  their  gift.  For  what 
purpose  can  God  have  thus  wonderfully  endowed  man  ? 
Did  he  give  him  this  physical  frame,  with  its  functions  of 
life,  its  organs  of  intelhgence,  and  its  power  of  activity, 
that  it  might  lie  dormant,  or  be  degraded  to  the  purposes 
of  sin  ?  To  assert  this,  would  be  a  reflection  upon  divine 
wisdom  and  goodness.  God  cannot  exert  the  creative 
power  in  vain.  If  man  had  been  intended  for  idleness,  he 
must  have  received  a  constitution  exactly  corresponding 
with  this  design.  But  his  power  of  activity,  capable  of 
large  improvement  and  wise  appropriation,  is  proof  suflSl- 
cient  that  this  power  was  to  be  rendered  available  to  its 


VI.]  TALENT.  9i 

utmost  extent,  for  purposes  of  good  to  the  race,  and  glory 
to  God. 

"Would  an  infinitely  wise  and  holy  Being  have  conferred 
upon  man  the  power  to  know,  the  power  to  think,  and  the 
power  to  reason,  if  it  had  been  a  matter  of  no  importance 
what,  or  how  much  he  should  know ;  to  what  purposes  his 
knowledge  should  be  appropriated ;  what  should  be  the 
character  and  tendency  of  his  thoughts,  and  what  the  man- 
ner, design,  and  influence,  of  his  reasonings  ?  Such  an  ob- 
jectless effort  of  divine  power  cannot  be  conceived  but  by 
a  perverted  mind.  Irresponsible  talents,  of  such  formidable 
power,  would  have  been  a  curse,  and  not  a  blessing. 
From  the  gift  of  intellect,  with  its  irrepressible  energies, 
and  strongly  marked  constitutional  tendencies,  no  inference 
can  be  more  direct  and  indubitable,  than  that  God  designed 
to  govern  it,  and  that  he  will  inevitably  hold  man  to  a  strict 
responsibility  for  the  extent  of  its  development,  and  the 
mode  of  its  application. 

The  high  moral  ends  for  which  God  has  endowed  man 
with  a  conscience,  are  equally  evident.  It  must  be  his  im- 
perative duty  to  practice  the  most  careful  discriminations 
between  the  right  and  the  wrong ;  to  encourage  and  obey 
to  the  utmost  his  impulsions  against  vice,  and  in  favor  of 
virtue,  and  to  submit,  with  subdued  and  filial  temper,  to 
the  chastisements  which  discourage  sin,  and  to  make  the 
right  practical  use  of  the  awards  of  virtue,  or  God  would 
never  have  given  him  the  faculties  for  the  exalted  pur- 
poses. All  the  blessings  of  the  remedial  dispensation  are 
rich  and  significant,  in  the  light  of  their  elevated  designs, 
and  the  responsibility  of  man  ;  but,  apart  from  these,  they 
can  only  be  considered  a  fearful  waste  of  toil  and  suffer- 
ing. To  provide  for  the  greatest  attainable  excellence  and 
happiness  of  mind  ;  to  develop  the  controlling  elements  of 
the  divine  government  in  their  essential  purity  and  power  ; 
to  reveal  and  perfect  the  great  social  system,  and  to  people 
heaven  with  "  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect,"  are  ob- 
jects worthy  of  God,  and  plainly  indicated  by  the  moral 
attributes  of  the  race,  and  the  moral  arrangements  of  this 
trial  state. 

2.  We  argue  the  duty  of  improvement  from  the  nature 
of  these  gifts.  In  themselves,  they  are  valuable  and  useful 
to  the  highest  degree,  and  so  wisely  and  benevolently  ad- 


92  TAT.EKT.  [SER. 

justed  as  to  secure  the  greatest  possible  good  to  man. 
Besides  ;  it  is  found  to  be  nearly  a  universal  law  of  talent, 
that  it  increases  by  use  and  diminishes  by  neglect.  If 
the  body  is  brought  into  that  kind  of  habitual  activity, 
which  exercises  faithfully  and  constantly  every  muscle  up 
to  the  extent  of  its  ability,  without  going  beyond  it,  it 
expands  and  strengthens  in  every  part  to  an  astonishing 
deo-ree  ;  physical  ability  becomes  equal  to  the  greatest 
necessary  exertions,  and  reaches  a  power  of  endurance 
almost  incredible.  What  gave  such  agility  and  strength 
to  the  Spartan  youths  ?  What  were  the  means  of  acquiring 
that  sinewy  arm,  expanded  chest,  and  iron  frame,  which 
enabled  them  to  perform  such  prodigies  of  might  and 
valor  in  the  arena  of  athletic  strife,  or  upon  the  battle 
field  ?  Action  !  action  was  the  grand  secret  of  this  astonish- 
ing physical  development ;  and  who  can  doubt  that  it  has 
the  same  power  now,  as  in  olden  times,  to  work  its  mira- 
cles upon  the  human  frame  ?  Is  there  not  sufficient  in- 
ducement to  effort  ?  If  the  sacrifices  and  exertions  of  the 
Grecian  schools  could  be  endured,  without  murmuring,  for 
many  years,  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  secure  the  victor's 
crown,  what  ought  we  not  to  undergo,  in  preparation  for 
the  toil  and  suffering  which  the  interests  of  the  world  re- 
quire ?  We  greatly  err  in  supposing  that  this  department 
of  education  is  indifferent,  or  of  trifling  importance.  In- 
creased physical  power  must  give  a  firmer  hold  upon  the 
available  means  of  permanent  enjoyment,  stronger  influence 
over  the  destinies  of  the  race,  and  a  loftier  bearing  to  the 
action  of  mind.  It  is  sickening  to  see  what  a  race  of 
effeminate,  diseased,  and  powerless  beings  we  are,  com- 
pared with  the  giant  form,  the  stately  tread,  the  hardy 
hand,  and  iron  constitution,  of  many  of  our  fathers  !  Idle- 
ness, corruption,  and  luxury,  have  crippled  our  energies, 
and  wofully  degraded  our  physical  frames  !  Alas  !  sin  has 
dreadfully  cursed  the  bodies  of  men.  Purity,  activity,  and 
care,  had  made  us  strong  to  labor,  swift  to  move,  and  hardy 
to  endure,  in  the  cause  of  humanity  and  God.  And  who 
can  fail  to  see,  in  this  intrinsic  power  of  physical  de- 
velopment, the  imperative  obligation  to  the  exertion  it 
requires  ? 

Wealth  is  increased  by  proper  activity.     But  does  this 
increase  confer  upon  us  the  right  to  divert  it  from  its  le- 


VI.J  TALENT.  93 

gitimate  use?  It  is  unquestionably  our  duty  to  "occupy" 
this  talent  according  to  our  several  ability ;  with  our  "  live 
talents  "  to  "  gain  other  five,"  as  often  as  industry,  frugality, 
and  honesty,  will  allow.  But  are  we,  therefore,  to  forget 
that  it  is  "  our  Lord's  money,"  and  withhold  it  from  the 
great  moral  and  religious  enterprises  to  which  he  has  ap- 
propriated it,  to  gratify  corrupted  passion,  or  a  morbid  love 
of  gain?  The  day  of  reckoning  will  show  what  a  sad 
perversion  this  is. 

But  the  same  law  of  progression  is  applicable  to  intel- 
lectual talent.  Some  degree  of  mental  improvement  is 
undoubtedly  secured  by  the  constitution  of  mind.  Its 
natural  growth  from  infancy  to  manhood  is  sufficient  to 
indicate  its  intrinsic  power  of  enlargement.  But  it  is 
established  by  experience,  that  the  true  destiny  of  intellect 
can  be  reached  by  vigorous  effort  alone.  Take  two  minds 
of  equal  power ;  leave  one  of  them  to  his  mere  constitu- 
tional tendencies,  without  education  ;  but  accustom  the 
other  to  regular  and  severe  application  to  the  fiercer  con- 
flicts of  mind,  in  the  fields  of  abstract  science  and  practical 
truth ;  imbue  him  with  the  spirit  of  a  scholar,  so  that 
there  are  no  heights  which  he  dare  not  attempt,  no  diffi- 
culties which  he  dare  not  engage,  no  obstacles  which  he 
cannot  surmount ;  inure  him  to  the  utmost  conquests,  prac- 
ticable to  the  combined  action  of  intelligence,  thought,  and 
reason  ;  and  what  is  the  result  ?  It  must  be  easy  to  tell. 
The  one  looks  upon  the  mere  surface  of  things,  Avhile  the 
other  dives  into  the  depths  of  truths  and  principles  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  race.  The  one  contents  himself 
with  superstitious  wonder,  where  the  other  discovers  the 
workings  of  secret  causes  and  uniform  laws,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  great  Creator,  for  the  operation  of  results 
essential  to  the  harmony  of  the  universe  and  the  well-being 
of  man.  The  one  stares  with  surprise,  where  the  other 
admires,  adores,  and  loves.  What  a  sublime  power  of 
enjoyment,  what  a  vast  range  of  usefulness,  what  an  en- 
larged capacity  for  receiving  God,  and  grasping  the  great 
truths  of  revelation,  may  be  acquired  by  long-continued 
and  well-directed  mental  industry  !  And  shall  this  power 
of  indefinite  enlargement  for  such  glorious  purposes  be 
neglected  or  abused?  Shall  the  fires  of  intellect,  kindled 
by  the  breath  of  God,  fade  and  go  out  in  darkness  and 


94  TALENT.  [SER. 

shame  ?  To  us  it  is  clear,  no  error  can  be  greater,  and 
few  more  injurious,  than  that  the  improvement  or  neglect 
of  mind  is  a  matter  of  entire  indifference.  That  if  acci- 
dent, caprice,  or  necessity,  lead  to  a  course  of  education,  it 
is  well ;  but,  if  not,  it  is  equally  well !  We  do  not,  of 
course,  insist  upon  the  same  kind  and  mode  of  education 
for  all.  Bat  we  cannot  allow  that  mind  can  be  neglected 
with  impunity ;  that  ignorance  and  intelligence  are  alike 
indifferent  to  God,  or  that  perverted  intellect  can  ever  be 
irresponsible.  In  this  power  of  indefinite  improvement  by 
mental  activity,  I  read  the  imperious  will  of  Jehovah. 
Education  is  clearly  indicated  and  required  by  the  consti- 
tution of  mind ;  vrhoever  neglects  it,  violates  the  laws  of 
his  being,  and  dishonors  his  Maker.  What,  we  ask,  would 
be  the  result,  if  this  great  principle  were  thoroughly  taken 
in,  and  appreciated  by  the  race  ?  It  would  heave  the  mighty 
mass,  like  tlie  throes  of  an  earthquake !  It  would  be  the 
application  of  resurrection  power  to  the  hosts  of  the  dead ! 

But  this  progressive  power  must  take  hold  of  the  moral, 
as  well  as  of  the  physical  and  intellectual  man.  Perfect 
symmetry  in  development  is  the  only  security  against 
monstrous  formations,  and  a  dangerous  application  of 
power.  Nor  is  the  moral  mind  less  capable  of  progression 
than  the  intellectual.  If  the  power  of  virtue  and  piety 
may  once  be  brought  into  requisition,  there  is  no  agency 
that  can  limit  its  exercise,  or  fix  bounds  to  its  increase. 
If  anything  is  infinite,  it  is  goodness.  If  man's  power  of 
progression  in  anything  is  indefinite,  it  is  in  virtue  and 
holiness.  The  exalted  pre-eminence  of  the  moral  mind  is 
seen  in  old  age  and  in  the  hour  of  death,  when  the  depth 
of  its  enjoyment,  and  the  power  of  its  triumphs,  increase, 
as  everything  else  fades  and  disappears. 

But  to  conclude  this  argument.  Let  us  suppose  that 
the  power  of  activity,  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral, 
Avith  which  the  race  is  endowed,  were  brought  into  full 
and  habitual  exercise,  and  properly  directed,  we  should 
then  begin  to  see  what  glories  the  human  creation  reveals ; 
what  perfection  of  beauty  may  adorn  the  race,  and  what 
sublime  elevation  was  intended  in  the  destiny  of  man.  Wo 
to  the  world  for  the  power  of  sin !  It  has  diseased  our 
bodies,  dwarfed  our  intellects,  and  corrupted  our  hearts ! 
What  an  occasion  of  wonder  and  gratitude,  that  the  power 


VI.]  TALENT.  95 

of  improvement  was  not  utterly  destroyed  amid  tlie  general 
wreck ! 

3.  1  argue  the  duty  of  iinprovement  from  the  individual 
and  social  condition  of  the  race.  If  it  were  true  that  man 
is  personally  in  no  need  of  the  enlargement  of  his  powers  ; 
that  he  is  individually  as  well  oiF  in  his  sickly,  enfeebled, 
and  dwarfish  state,  as  he  would  be  with  his  capabilities  all 
fully  developed  and  properly  applied,  one  source  of  our 
argument  would  be  lost.  But  what  would  be  the  result, 
if  man  were  to  remain  with  no  more  than  his  constitutional 
powers,  unimproved  by  education  or  personal  effort  ? 
Would  not  the  extreme  disproportion  between  his  wants 
and  resources  prove  his  inevitable  ruin?  A  narrow  in- 
spection of  the  facts  will  show,  that  God  lias  anticipated 
his  improvement  in  his  individual  necessities.  He  needs, 
and  must  have,  more  bread,  and  other  earthly  comforts, 
than  his  physical  powers  in  their  native  state  can  furnish. 
To  overcome  the  obstacles  that  oppose  his  progress  in  re- 
finement ;  to  discover  the  resources  of  life  in  the  animal, 
mineral,  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  and  to  provide  for  the 
happiness  of  his  soul,  he  needs  more  intellectual  power 
than  he  has  at  first  received.  He  needs  more  accurate 
moral  discrimination,  stronger  moral  impulsions,  and  keener 
moral  sensibilities,  than  he  originall}^  possesses,  to  secure 
the  awards  of  virtue  in  this  life,  to  shun  the  horrors  of 
hell,  and  gain  the  happiness  of  heaven,  in  the  life  to  come. 
Put  him  upon  his  first  allowance  in  all  these  respects,  and 
suffer  him  still  to  live,  and  who  can  fail  to  see  that  a  thou- 
sand craving  wants  must  implore  in  vain?  A  thousand 
nameless  ills  would  crowd  every  hour  of  his  existence,  and 
his  crying  sins  clamor  for  the  indignation  of  Heaven.  No, 
my  brethren,  God  has  so  made  man  as  to  need  more  phy- 
sical, intellectual,  and  moral  power,  than  he  has  given 
him.  He  must,  therefore,  have  contemplated  the  improve- 
ment of  our  talents  up  to  the  amount  of  our  ability.  He 
has  implanted  the  germs,  but  made  the  growth  and  the 
fruit  depend  upon  ourselves. 

Again,  man  is  a  social  being  ;  and  if  we  shall  find  that, 
in  the  necessary  structure  of  society,  God  has  made  ar- 
rangements to  use  more  talents  than  he  has  given ;  that 
the  great  ends  of  social  order  must  be  eflTectually  defeated 
without  the  enlargement,  and  religious  appropriation  of  our 


96  TALENT.  [SER. 

faculties,  a  great  accession  of  strength  will  be  gained  to 
our  advancing  argument.  And  what  are  the  facts  ?  Could 
the  strength  of  man,  just  as  it  would  be  without  activity, 
ever  achieve  the  physical  labors  and  results  that  the  social 
state  requires  ?  Would  it  be  adequate  to  erect  the  edifices, 
and  create  the  public  Avorks,  necessary  for  national  con- 
venience and  defense  ?  And  how  could  the  objects  of 
civilization  be  secured  if  man's  intellect  remained  unde- 
veloped ?  Barbarism  would  be  the  only  social  state  of 
which  he  would  then  be  capable.  The  arts  and  sciences, 
domestic  comforts,  true  religion,  and  good  government, 
must  all  be  utterly  impracticable.  And  how  would  the 
grand  moral  enterprises  of  the  social  order  fare,  if  none  but 
the  infant  moral  powers  of  man  were  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  various  forms  of  national  sin,  and  employed  in 
rearing  the  golden  superstructure  of  the  national  morals  ? 
The  heart  of  every  nation  would  die !  Mammoth  vices 
would  stalk  abroad  in  proud  defiance  of  honor,  religion, 
and  truth  ;  and  the  demon  of  national  corruption  would 
laugh,  with  fiendish  joy,  at  murdered  innocence  and  crushed 
and  bleeding  virtue  !  To  oppose  successfully  these  fearful 
advances  of  sin,  and  preserve  the  very  existence  of  society, 
vast  improvement  in  every  department  of  talent  is  abso- 
lutely necessary.  But  to  raise  it  to  its  intended  and  prac- 
ticable perfection,  every  human  energy  must  reach  its 
manhood,  and  with  its  utmost  strength  fearlessly  grapple 
with  the  deadly  foes  of  God  and  man.  The  calls  of  so- 
ciety are  at  this  very  moment  loud  and  beseeching  for  far 
more  talents  than  the  world  possesses  !  It  is  frightful  to 
see,  and  humiliating  to  acknowledge  it ;  but  it  is  alarmingly 
true,  that  such  has  been  the  guilty  neglect  of  phj^sical, 
intellectual,  and  moral  culture,  that  the  necessities  of  the 
world  have  immeasurably  outgrown  its  power !  It  is  un- 
der the  gathering  pressure  of  this  immense  disproportion, 
that  society,  at  this  very  moment,  reels  from  its  founda- 
tions, and  threatens  to  bury  the  happiness  and  hopes  of 
the  world  in  its  fall !  And  if  more  power  than  the  world 
possesses  is  actually  and  imperatively  demanded  for  the 
well-being  and  perfection  of  society,  what  criminality  to 
withhold  what  we  have  !  Enough  remaining  there  may  be 
to  save  the  world  from  dissolution  ;  but  not  enough  to 
bring  it  to  its  intended  perfection.     By  so  much  as  the 


VI.]  TALENT.  97 

power  of  the  race  is  less  than  it  might  have  been,  by  just 
so  much  we  must  fall  short  of  our  once  practicable  destiny ! 
And  let  every  individual  know,  that  just  so  far  as  he  suf- 
fers indolence  and  sin  to  diminish  the  amount  of  his  attain- 
able excellence  and  ability,  by  just  so  much  he  contributes 
to  drag  down  the  race  from  its  intended  exaltation  ! 

4.  We  argue  the  duty  of  improvement  from  the  authority 
of  God.  The  command  of  God  to  every  man,  substan- 
tially, is,  "  Go  work  in  my  vineyard."  God's  vineyard  is 
a  vast  field  of  industry.  God  himself  is  the  example, 
and  Christ  sustains  it.  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and 
I  work."  "  I  must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me 
while  it  is  day,  the  night  cometli  when  no  man  can  work." 
Man  must  follow  this  divine  example.  "Be  strong,  all  ye 
people  of  the  Lord,  saith  the  Lord,  and  work,  for  I  am 
with  you."  "This  we  commanded  you  if  any  would  not 
work,  neither  should  he  eat."  "  Work  out  your  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling."  The  Bible  is  a  book  of  indus- 
try. It  lays  out  work  for  the  whole  of  time,  and  for 
every  individual  of  the  human  race.  The  sluggard  is  con- 
demned with  unsparing  severity.  The  man  of  physical 
and  mental  activity,  under  the  high  motives  of  the  gospel, 
is  applauded  and  encouraged  by  the  most  exalted  rewards, 
in  this  and  the  life  to  come.  Our  parable  is  divine  author- 
ity for  the  most  imperative  obligation  to  improvement 
in  every  department  of  talent.  "Occupy  till  I  come"  is 
the  charge  to  all,  accompanying  every  gift.  And  who,  I 
entreat  you,  can  resist  with  impunity  authority  so  legiti- 
mate and  sacred  ? 

Let  it  then  be  considered,  that  all  our  talents  are  the 
free  gift  of  God ;  that  they  are  of  the  greatest  possible 
value,  and  include  the  capability  of  indefinite  expansion ; 
that  their  improvement  is  demanded  by  the  individual  and 
social  condition  of  the  race,  and  by  the  authority  of  God ; 
and  who  will  not  be  alarmed  at  the  indolence  of  the 
world,  and  the  vicious  appropriation  of  the  talents  of  men  ? 
What  argument  can  be  more  conclusive,  and  what  obliga- 
tion more  absolute,  than  those  which  sustain  and  require 
the  utmost  activity  and  devotion  in  the  improvement  of 
every  talent  committed  to  us  by  our  heavenly  Father  ? 

III.  God  has  appointed  a  day  of  reckoning  for  the  use 
or  abuse  of  talent, 

5 


98  TALENT.  [SER. 

1.  Of  this  there  is  abundant  evidence,  from  Scripture, 
sustained  by  right  reason.  "  After  a  long  time  the  lord 
of  those  servants  cometh  and  reckoneth  with  them."  Here 
the  most  wicked  abuse  of  talent  may  occur  with  seeming 
impunity.  Men  hide  their  talents  in  the  earth  ;  conceal  or 
criminally  misuse  their  Lord's  money !  The  body  is  de- 
graded to  a  mere  organ  of  selfishness  :  an  instrument 
of  corrupted  passion  or  beastly  appetite  !  The  mind  is 
wasted  or  impaired  in  its  energies ;  depraved  and  cor- 
rupted in  its  moral  propensities ;  allowed  to  fade  from  its 
original  glory  by  mere  neglect,  or  by  guilty  coalition, 
claims  its  affinity  with  brutes  and  devils !  The  heart's 
best  affections  are  allowed  to  wither  unimproved,  or  are 
shamefully  perverted  and  pressed  into  the  service  of  sin ! 
Learning,  genius,  wealth,  and  place,  arrayed  against  God  ! 
To  suppose  that  the  righteous  "  Judge  of  all  the  earth"  is 
either  indifferent  to  such  shocking  perversions  and  horrid 
obscenities,  among  those  who  were  intended  to  reflect  his 
image;  or  that  he  is  without  the  disposition  or  power  to 
punish  for  such  heaven-daring  offenses,  is  to  degrade  our- 
selves by  essaying  to  dishonor  God,  and  to  become  by  our 
own  act  the  victims  of  a  delusion  from  which  we  shall  be 
finally  awaked  by  the  awful  thunders  of  the  judgment! 
"  Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked,  for  whatsoever  a 
man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap."  "  Or  despisest  thou 
the  riches  of  his  goodness,  and  forbearance,  and  long-suf- 
fering ;  not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God  leadeth  thee 
to  repentance  ?  But  after  thy  hardness  and  impenitent 
heart,  treasurest  up  unto  thyself  wrath  against  the  day  of 
wrath,  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God; 
who  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds :  to 
them  who  by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing  seek  for 
glory,  and  honor,  and  immortality,  eternal  life ;  but  unto 
them  that  are  contentious,  and  do  not  obey  the  truth,  but 
obey  unrighteousness,  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation 
and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil ;  of 
the  Jew  first,  and  also  of  the  Gentile."  "  It  is  appointed 
unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after  this  the  judgment."  "  Be- 
cause he  hath  appointed  a  day  in  Avhich  he  will  judge 
the  world  in  righteousness,  by  that  man  whom  he  hath 
ordained."  Who  can  look  upon  this  formidable  array 
of  Holy   Scripture,  and  believe  that  perverted  talent  is 


VI.]  TALENT.  99 

irresponsible,  or  deny  the  doctrine   of  a  general  judg- 
ment? 

2.  It  will  he  a  day  of  sudden  and  terrific  grandeur, 
"  But  the  day  of  the  Lord  shall  so  come  as  a  thief  in  the 
night,  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a 
great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat ; 
the  earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be 
burned  up."  "  For  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from 
heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and 
with  the  trump  of  God,  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise 
first."  What  a  succession  of  events  is  here  described! 
What  scene  can  be  more  awfully  sublime?  The  sudden 
shout  of  a  descending  Lord ;  the  solemn  "  voice  of  the 
archangel,"  and  the  awful  peals  of  "the  trump  of  God," 
proclaiming  the  end  of  time,  and  the  gathering  of  the 
world  to  the  judgment-seat ;  the  resurrection  of  the  dead ; 
the  heavens  on  fire ;  the  earth  dissolving  in  flames,  and  the 
fearful  rush  of  blazing  planets,  stars,  and  suns,  mingled 
with  the  acclamations  of  the  righteous  as  they  fly  up  to 
meet  their  Lord  in  the  air;  and  the  wailings  of  the 
wicked,  as  the  throne  of  the  Judge  appears  in  the  hea- 
vens, must,  all  together,  constitute  a  scene  so  terrific  and 
grand,  so  utterly  appalling,  as  immeasurably  to  exceed  all 
human  conception. 

"  Man  starting  from  his  coiich  shall  sleep  no  more  ! 
The  day  is  broke  which  never  more  shall  close ! 
Above,  around,  beneath,  amazement  all ! 
Terror  and  glory  join'd  in  their  extremes  ! 
Our  God  in  grandeur,  and  our  world  on  fire !" 

3.  Every  man  must  he  there  to  account  for  himself. 
"  When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the 
holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of 
his  glory ;  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations." 
"  For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  his 
body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good 
or  bad."  Resistance,  or  apologies,  or  concealment,  will  be 
utterly  vain.  The  decree  is  inevitable,  and  divine  Omnip- 
otence will  secure  its  execution.  From  continent,  island, 
and  ocean,  the  hosts  of  the  dead  shall  be  gathered  around 
the  throne  of  judgment.  Time,  from  his  birth,  hath  not 
buried  a  son  who  will  not  be  there ;  and  the  living  shall 


100  TALENT.  [SEE. 

be  changed  sudden  as  the  lightning's  flash,  and  hasten  on 
to  swell  the  vast  and  final  concourse  of  the  world !  What 
state  of  mind  would  be  suited  to  such  a  scene  as  this? 
Does  any  man  wish  to  be  overtaken  by  that  day  with 
heart  "  at  enmity  with  God  ?" 

4.  The  moral  purposes  of  the  day  are  crowded  with  fear- 
ful interest  and  importance.  The  righteous  must  be  sep- 
arated from  the  wicked.  The  crimes  of  unforgiven  sin- 
ners must  be  revealed  to  the  gaze  of  angels,  and  an  as- 
sembled world.  "  For  God  shall  bring  every  work  into 
judgment,  with  every  secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good  or 
whether  it  be  evil."  It  must  be  a  day  of  awful  disclosures. 
It  will  then  be  seen  what  disposition  men  have  made  of 
the  talents  God  has  given  them.  The  man  whose  body 
has  been  enfeebled,  diseased,  and  destroyed  by  sin,  must 
give  account  of  the  power  of  life,  the  physical  arrange- 
ments for  intelligence  and  enjoyment,  and  the  power  of 
activity,  which  he  has  received  from  his  Creator.  It  will 
then  appear  that,  by  obeying  the  laws  of  his  being,  he 
might  have  added  many  years  to  that  life,  which  could  have 
served  the  most  valuable  ends ;  but  which  has  terminated 
miserably,  by  neglect  or  abuse.  By  suitable  care  and  ac- 
tivity his  physical  frame  might  have  vastly  increased  its 
power  of  endurance  and  efficiency,  in  the  arduous  toils  of 
a  probationary  state.  The  abuses  and  crimes  which  have 
engendered  guilty  disease  can  now  no  longer  be  con- 
cealed. Every  offense  against  the  laws  of  his  constitution 
must  be  dragged  to  light,  and  he  must  see  and  confess  the 
causes  which  have  perverted  his  senses,  enfeebled  his  mus- 
cular energies,  and  prematurely  hurried  him  to  the  grave. 

The  man  of  wealth  will  be  called  out  to  give  an  account 
of  every  dollar  of  "  his  Lord's  money."  Alas  !  what  literal 
accuracy  in  the  accounts !  What  unexpected  strictness  in 
the  reckoning!  The  omniscience  of  God  will  not  have 
allowed  a  single  wasted  particle  of  all  his  vast  treasures  to 
escape  notice.  The  principle  of  just  responsibility,  which 
would  hold  him  to  an  account  for  the  whole,  must  also  for 
the  least  fraction.  Here,  then,  must  be  seen  what  has  be- 
come of  the  money  which  God  gave  him  to  relieve  the 
distresses  of  the  poor  and  the  dying ;  to  diifuse  the  prin- 
ciples of  sound  and  sanctified  learning  among  men ;  to  sup- 
port the  glorious  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God ;  to  sustain  the 


VI.]  TALENT.  101 

missionary  of  the  cross ;  to  give  the  Bible  to  the  destitute ; 
or  in  any  way  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  man,  to  rescue 
sinners  from  the  power  of  the  devil,  to  rob  hell  of  its  prey, 
and  bring  immortal  souls  to  heaven.  If  it  shall  be  found 
that  the  means  destined  to  such  benevolence,  such  noble 
ends,  have  been  diverted,  hoarded  up,  squandered  in  idle, 
wicked  speculations,  or  prostituted  to  the  purposes  of  de- 
graded appetite,  or  corrupted  passion,  God  will  require  it 
at  his  hands,  Alas  !  what  quaking  at  the  judgment,  when 
the  summons  shall  roll  out  from  the  throne  of  justice, 
"  Give  account  of  thy  stewardship,  for  thou  mayest  be  no 
longer  steward." 

The  man  of  strong  native  intellect  will  be  required  to 
answer  for  its  neglect  or  abuse,  in  the  midst  of  the  best 
opportunities  for  development  and  righteous  appropriation. 
His  intelligence  will  be  contrasted  with  his  privileges; 
what  he  has  known  with  what  he  might  have  known ;  and 
it  will  be  demanded  why  he  has  grown  up  in  ignorance, 
with  the  light  of  science  flaming  around  him.  His  griev- 
ous error  in  supposing  that  God  was  indifferent  to  the 
education  of  mind,  and  that  he  would  hold  neglected  or 
perverted  intellect  irresponsible,  will  be  clearly  revealed. 
He  must  know  that  voluntary  ignorance  is  sin ;  and  if  his 
high  powers  of  intelligence  have  been  improved  only  to  be 
devoted  to  the  devil,  the  frightful  disclosures  will  show 
that  not  a  single  delinquency  has  been  overlooked,  not  a 
crime  forgotten.  The  secret  of  his  thoughts  will  be  ex- 
posed ;  his  dark,  concealed  reflections  revealed  in  contrast 
with  the  exalted  themes  of  honor  and  usefulness  which 
might  have  occupied  his  mind;  his  crazy,  listless,  dissi- 
pated thoughts,  contrasted  with  the  piously  controlled  re- 
flections of  a  well-regulated  mind.  His  prostrated  reason, 
powerless  by  neglect,  or  vicious  by  perversion,  must  be 
held  to  account  for  its  guilty  weakness  or  its  base  devotion 
to  error. 

The  man  of  a  corrupted  heart,  a  degraded  conscience, 
must  see  in  the  light  of  the  judgment  his  prostrated  power 
of  moral  distinctions,  of  moral  impulsions,  and  of  moral  re- 
tributions. As  a  probationer,  he  must  answer  for  the  gift 
of  the  gospel  slighted;  the  Holy  Spirit  grieved  and  re- 
jected ;  the  Saviour  crucified  afresh,  and  his  soul  for  ever 
lost. 


102  ^         TALENT.  [SER. 

Social  offenders  must  render  up  their  account  to  God. 
Guilty  parents  must  meet  the  responsibility  of  having  given 
to  their  children  diseased  and  enfeebled  bodies,  allowed  them 
to  grow  up  with  degraded  intellects  and  corrupted  hearts ; 
by  criminal  negligence  or  vicious  example  having  laid  the 
fatal  train  of  misery  and  death,  reaching  on  through  suc- 
ceeding generations  to  eternity.  The  young  man  must 
show  why  he  has  allowed  the  heedless  flight  of  so  many 
golden  hours,  which  ought  to  have  been  seized  for  thorough 
preparation,  to  act  a  noble  part  in  the  fierce  conflicts  of 
mind,  decisive  of  human  character  and  destiny.  Woman, 
perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  her  history,  will  wake  up  to 
the  amount  of  her  fearful  power  for  good  or  for  evil,  and 
render  a  strict  account  for  the  influence  of  her  peculiar 
talents,  her  personal  charms,  and  her  noiseless,  but  unre- 
sisted authority,  in  controlling  the  elements,  guiding  the 
genius,  and  fixing  the  destiny  of  her  age.  The  man  of  ge- 
nius must  show  to  what  purpose  he  has  devoted  his  talents. 
The  author  must  recognize  his  books,  with  the  vast  train 
of  effects  which  has  followed  them.  The  man  of  science 
and  letters  must  be  called  out  to  show  what  impress  he  has 
stamped  upon  his  generation.  The  professed  disciple  of 
Christ  must  answer  for  his  gifts  in  exhortation  and  prayer, 
and  the  social  effects  of  his  every-day  life.  The  minister 
from  the  desk  must  stand  out  and  account  for  his  power 
of  explanation,  of  argument,  and  persuasion.  The  solemn 
duties  of  the  pastoral  ofiice  must  pass  in  review  before  him, 
and  he  must  look  his  congregations  in  the  face !  If  his 
talents  have  been  misimproved,  his  holy  work  neglected, 
and  his  hearers  lost,  the  disclosures  will  be  fearful  and  con- 
demning, but  literally  true.  The  lawyer  from  the  bar,  and 
the  judge  from  the  bench,  must  account  for  their  solemn 
mockery  of  justice.  The  statesman  must  show  why  he  has 
used  all  his  power  for  party  ends,  corrupted  the  fountains 
of  public  morals,  fumed  his  head  with  wine,  and  degraded 
his  passions  with  women  ;  perjured  himself  before  the  om- 
niscient God ;  called  heaven  to  witness  his  hypocrisy,  and 
dared  the  vengeance  of  Jehovah,  by  his  crimes  against 
conscience  and  the  public  rights,  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
flattering  protestations  of  perfect  sincerity  and  devoted  pa- 
triotism !  Alas  !  what  a  day  of  disclosures  !  It  is  enough 
to  appall  the  stoutest  heart,  and  wring  a  groan  of  wo  from 


VI.]  TALENT.  103 

the  affrighted  infidel,  as  his  quickened  memory  calls  up  his 
blasphemous  libels  upon  the  word  of  God,  his  infamous 
war  upon  Jehovah,  who  has  now  girded  himself  for  the 
final  conflict. 

5.  It  will  he  a  day  of  solemn  and  immutable  retribution. 
*'And  to  you  who  are  troubled,  rest  with  us  when  the 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty 
angels,  in  flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that 
know  not  God,  and  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  his 
power ;  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and 
to  be  admired  in  all  them  that  believe  in  that  day."  Some, 
then,  there  are,  whose  hearts  have  relented ;  who  have 
savingly  believed  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  sins  have 
been  pardoned,  whose  souls  have  been  regenerated  and 
sanctified,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the 
blood  of  the  covenant.  Of  these,  some,  whose  lives  have 
been  dishonored  by  softness,  idleness,  ignorance,  or  vice, 
have  just  been  pardoned  in  time  to  escape  hell!  But 
others  have  nobly  used  their  Lord's  money.  They  have 
obeyed  the  command,  "  Occupy  till  I  come."  Their 
"  bodies "  have  been  regarded  as  the  "  temples  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;"  their  physical  energies,  carefully  preserved  and 
nobly  developed  by  untiring  activity.  Their  powers  of  in- 
telligence, and  thought,  and  reason,  have  been  improved 
by  every  means  within  the  reach  of  industry  and  indomi- 
table perseverance.  Their  power  of  virtue  has  accumu- 
lated strength  from  the  most  devoted  obedience  to  the  de- 
cisions of  conscience ;  by  habits  of  uncompromising  resist- 
ance to  the  wrong,  and  attachment  to  the  right.  Their 
lives  have  been  devoted  to  the  good  of  their  race.  They 
have  asked  and  received  pardon  of  God  for  all  their  im- 
perfections, and  as  Christians  they  have  watched,  and 
prayed,  and  labored  for  the  best  good  of  the  world.  They 
have  used  their  natural  abilities,  their  learning,  and 
professions,  to  glorify  God.  As  men  of  wealth,  they 
have  laid  all  upon  the  altar.  Their  means  have  gone  to 
relieve  the  poor,  to  enlighten  the  ignorant,  and  to  send 
the  Bible  and  the  gospel  to  the  destitute.  Hundreds  and 
thousands  have  been  saved  from  wretchedness  and  hell,  by 
their  instrumentality.   In  all  their  natural  and  official  rela- 


104  TALENT.  [SER. 

tions  to  society,  they  have  been  "  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  and 
a  praise  to  them  that  do  well." 

To  each  of  these  God  will  say,  "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant,  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things, . 
I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things.  Enter  thou  into 
the  joy  of  thy  Lord  ;" — -joy  that  thy  Lord  hath  prepared 
for  thee  by  his  sufferings  and  death,  and  that  thou  shalt 
share  with  him — joy  that  is  unending  in  the  paradise  of 
God.  O  !  the  transcendent  glory  of  "  the  sacramental  host 
of  God's  elect "  as  "  they  enter  in  through  the  gates  into 
the  city,"  hailed  by  myriads  of  angels,  welcomed  by  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  to  their  eternal  rest ! 

But  a  vast  multitude  are  left  behind.  They  have 
"  buried  their  Lord's  money."  They  have  neglected  or 
perverted  the  talents  God  has  given  them.  They  have 
polluted  their  bodies,  degraded  their  intellects,  and  ruined 
their  souls.  Time  has  been  squandered  and  eternity  lost. 
Their  dark  deeds  of  personal  degradation  and  social  crime 
have  been  dragged  to  the  light,  and  the  day  of  retribution 
has  come.  The  voice  of  stern,  relentless  justice,  cries, 
"  Cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant  into  outer  darkness ; 
there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  O !  fear- 
ful punishment !  There  is  something  awful  in  this  "  dark- 
ness." The  light  of  the  sun  may  not  penetrate  the  abode 
of  the  lost.  The  star  of  night  may  not  visit  this  world  of 
wrath.  It  is  the  night  of  sin  ;  unmingled,  unmitigated 
sin  !  Not  a  single  virtue  there,  not  a  holy  motive,  or  a 
pious  thought,  or  a  good  desire  i  It  is  the  awful  gathering 
together  of  the  world's  corruption  !  The  crowding  into 
one  dark  place  the  sins  and  blasphemies  of  a  guilty  uni- 
verse !  It  is  the  night  of  suffering  and  punishment. 
"  Punished  with  everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  glory  of  his  power."  O,  if  the  glory 
of  God  might  shine  into  those  dark  hearts ;  if  the  star  of 
hope  might  shoot  its  glimmering  rays  athwart  that  dungeon 
gloom,  what  relief  to  those  suffering,  groping  crowds  !  Just 
retribution  !  In  life,  amid  the  blaze  of  gospel  day,  they 
"  loved  darkness  rather  than  light."  For  their  deeds  of 
pollution,  of  infamy,  and  crime,  they  sought  the  covert  of 
night.  They  shrank  with  instinctive  horror  from  the  light 
whichth  reatened  to  reveal  the  dark,  but  cherished,  corrup- 


VI.]  TALENT.  105 

tions  of  their  hearts  and  lives.  Darkness  was  their  guilty- 
choice  on  earth,  and  "  outer  darkness  "  shall  be  their  fear- 
ful doom  in  hell.  Wo  to  the  man  whose  laugh  of  fiendish 
joy  on  earth  has  ended  in  the  wailings  of  despair  !  Whose 
horrid  cursings  and  blasphemies  began  in  time  to  go  on  in 
eternity  !  Whose  abuse  of  talent,  and  contempt  of  God  in 
his  trial  state,  have  drawn  down  upon  his  crushed  and 
suffering  spirit,  "  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and 
anguish,"  "  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire 
is  not  quenched  !"  Alas  !  "  There  shall  be  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth"  "where  the  smoke  of  their  torment  as- 
cendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever." 

1.  In  conclusion:  It  is  evident  that,  in  the  distribution 
of  talents,  diversity,  and  not  uniformity,  is  the  ride.  "  To 
one  he  gives  five,  to  another,  two  to  another  one."  This 
is  according  to  fact,  and  we  may  not  arraign  the  divine 
administration  for  this  mode  of  dispensing  favors.  God 
has  a  right  to  do  what  he  will  with  his  own ;  and,  as  we 
have  seen,  his  immutable  righteousness  and  wisdom  are  the 
guaranty,  that  this  mode  of  distribution  is  entirely  the  best, 
for  the  interest  of  man,  and  for  his  own  glory,  Another 
view  will  show,  that  he  who  has  less,  has  no  cause  to  mur- 
mur, while  he  who  has  more,  has  no  cause  to  be  vain. 

2.  The  talents  given  are,  in  every  case,  the  exact  measure 
of  respo7isibility.  How  little  do  we  think,  while  we  envy 
the  talents  of  others,  that  we  may  have  already  acquired 
alarming  guilt  for  the  misimprovement  of  our  own  !  And 
that  what  we  have,  rightly  improved,  would  raise  us  to  an 
eminence  far  above  many  of  more  favored  beginnings,  who 
have  degraded  their  native  gifts  to  a  level  with  the  brutes  ! 
We  do  not  reflect  how  fearful  a  responsibility  is  laid  upon 
those  of  superior  parts,  from  which  we  are  mercifully  saved; 
that,  if  rightly  used,  our  limited  talents  are  enough  to  raise 
us  to  a  glory  of  nature  far  above  that  of  the  tallest  seraph 
now  in  the  world  of  light !  But,  if  neglected  and  mis- 
applied, they  are  enough  to  damn  us  for  ever !  On  the 
other  hand,  vain  men,  who  are  priding  themselves  upon 
their  elevation  of  mind,  their  profound  learning,  their  bril- 
liant parts,  or  splendid  rank,  little  think  of  the  amount  of 
responsibility  which  their  boasted  talents  involve.  We 
have  seen  that  God  has  not  bestowed  a  gift  on  man  which 

5* 


106  TALENT.  [SER. 

he  will  not  require  again,  with  due  improTement.  "  For 
unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  be  much 
required." 

3.  The  day  of  final  reckoning  loill  surely  come;  the 
dreadful  day  when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  dis- 
closed. Then  it  will  appear,  that  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
diversity  of  gifts,  over  which  men  have  so  constantly  and 
rashly  complained,  there  is  a  perfect  equality — an  equality 
of  adjustment  between  talents  and  responsibility,  between 
probation  and  retribution.  How  immensely  important, 
therefore,  the  bearing  of  every  moral  action !  of  what  eter- 
nal moment  the  disposition  we  make  of  every  gift  of  God ! 

0  that  I  could  rouse  the  slumberings  of  the  spiritually  dead! 
that  I  could  reach  the  ears  of  earth's  guilty  millions !  I 
would  speak  to  the  man  of  honor,  of  wealth,  of  science,  and 
of  rank,  in  tones  of  thunder  and  alarm !  I  would  call  to 
a  stand  the  whirling,  dancing,  giddy  throng,  upon  the 
crumbling  verge  of  probation— above  the  breaking  billows 
of  eternal  wrath !  I  would  summon  the  men  of  genius,  and 
talent,  and  letters,  to  a  view  of  the  past,  and  of  generations 
to  come  ;  to  the  scenes  of  the  death-bed,  and  to  the  retribu- 
tions of  eternity ;  and  bid  them  snatch  their  periled  souls 
from  the  devouring  flames  ;  rescue  our  thoughtless,  furious, 
headlong  age  from  the  infamy  and  ruin  of  perverted 
talent ;  and  seize  the  fountains  of  public  morals,  opinions, 
and  thought,  and  purify  them,  that  they  may  cease  to  pour 
out  the  waters  of  death  upon  our  fallen  and  suffering 
world.  I  would  call  around  them  the  sighs  of  murdered 
hearts,  the  groans  of  crushed,  immortal  minds,  and  the 
bleeding  corpses  of  slauglitered  millions,  and  beseech  them 
— in  the  name  of  God  and  humanity — to  turn  the  course  of 
human  conduct  from  sin  and  death  to  holiness  and  heaven. 

1  would  send  out  the  summons  upon  the  winds  and  the 
waves,  to  the  saints  of  God,  to  marshal  anew — enter  afresh 
the  deadly  strife,  and  fight  like  champions  of  Jesus,  till  the 
cry  of  victory  shall  sound  out  from  every  rank  of  God's 
embattled  hosts  ;  till,  from  every  continent,  island,  and  sea, 
the  shout  shall  go  up,  "  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  be- 
come the  kingdoms  of  our  Loi^,  and  of  his  Christ ;"  and 
the  high  response  shall  roll  out  from  heaven,  "  as  the  voice 
of  mighty  thunderings,  saying,  Alleluia  :  for  the  Lord  God 
Omnipotent  reigneth." 


VII.]  THE  DUTY  OF  SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  107 

SERMON   VII. 

The  Duty  of  Submission  to  God. 

BY  REV.  WILLIAM  HUNTER, 

EDITOR    OF   THE   PITTSBURGH    CHRISTIAN   ADVOCATE. 

"  Submit  yourselves,  therefore,  to  God." — James  iv,  7. 

If  an  intelligent  inhabitant  of  some  other  world — some 
sinless  world — were  to  receive  a  brief  outline  of  the  history 
of  the  fall  of  man  and  his  present  condition ; — if,  for  in- 
stance, he  were  to  learn  that  man,  having  been  placed  in 
a  garden  of  delights  at  his  creation,  standing  high  in  intel- 
ligence, in  moral  excellence,  in  authority,  and  in  the  favor 
of  his  God,  had,  nevertheless,  in  an  evil  hour,  yielded  to 
the  force  of  temptation,  lost  his  innocency,  his  glory,  and 
the  favor  of  his  Creator,  and  plunged  himself  into  untold 
woes: — further,  that  though  thus  wretched,  his  case  was 
not  entirely  hopeless ;  that  there  was  a  possibility  of  re- 
storation ;  that,  indeed,  overtures  to  effect  it  had  been 
made,  either  on  the  part  of  God  or  man,  not  stated 
which  ;  that  there  was  on  the  one  part  a  strong  desire  for 
reconciliation,  and  efforts  after  it ;  but  that,  on  the 
other,  not  stated  Vv^hich,  there  was  reluctance,  aversion, 
and  an  unwillingness  for  peace  ;  what,  think  you,  would 
be  the  natural  conclusion  of  such  an  unsophisticated  mind, 
ignorant  of  the  nature  of  sin,  as  to  whether  the  offers  of 
reconciliation  had  come  from  God  or  man  ?  as  to  whether 
the  reluctance  and  aversion  were  on  the  part  of  God,  or 
man  ?  Would  it  not  be  reasonable  for  him  to  conclude, 
that  man,  having  thoughtlessly  plunged  himself  from  a 
height  of  happiness  to  a  depth  of  wo,  would,  on  discovering 
his  error,  lament  it;  and,  with  bitter  tears  and  earnest 
cries,  return  to  the  Father  of  spirits,  and  beseech  him  for 
mercy  ?  And  that  God,  whose  confidence  had  been  be- 
trayed, whose  law  had  been  dishonored,  and  his  blessings 
spurned,  might  justly  hesitate  to  receive  so  perfidious  a 
creature  again  into  his  bosom  ?  But  we  know  how  very 
different  all  this  is  from  the  true  state  of  the  case.  The 
offended  God  makes  the  proposition  of  peace  to  offending 


108  THE  DUTY  OF  SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

man.  The  everlasting  Jeliovah  sues  for  reconciliation 
with  a  worm  of  the  dust !  Nor  is  he  content  with  making 
the  offer ;  he  repeats  it — he  urges  it — he  j)leads — he  en- 
treats man  to  be  reconciled  unto  him.  Formerly,  he  may 
have  employed  himself  in  adding  world  to  Avorld — system 
to  system — constellation  to  constellation,  extending  the 
boundaries  of  his  empire  further  and  wider  into  the  re- 
gions of  infinite  space ;  angels,  archangels,  seraphim,  che- 
rubim— the  countless  orders  of  the  heavenly  hierarchy, 
and  the  myriads  of  beings  who  may  people  every  rolling 
globe,  may  have  employed  his  creating  energies  ;  but  now, 
taking  the  Bible  for  our  guide,  he  stands  all  day  long 
stretching  out  his  hands  to  a  gainsaying  and  disobedient 
people.  Speaking  after  the  manner  of  men,  it  is,  as  if  the 
thoughts  of  this  lost  world  so  affected  him,  that  he  could 
do  nothing  else  but  devote  his  whole  attention  to  it.  Like 
the  shepherd,  who  left  his  ninety  and  nine  sheep  to  go 
after  the  one  that  had  gone  astray,  our  heavenly  Father 
seems  to  live  and  act  as  though  this  lost  world  were  his 
whole  concern.  Man,  on  the  other  hand,  guilty,  dependent, 
M^eak,  and  wretched,  turns  himself  away  from  the  blessings 
of  his  God.  He  Avill  not  come  unto  him  that  he  might 
have  life.  He  spurns  him ;  he  hates  him ;  he  continues 
in  his  rebellion,  as  though  daring  the  thunderbolts  of  the 
Almighty,  and  greedy  of  his  own  damnation.* 

In  the  great  work  of  recor.ciling  man  to  himself,  God 
would  bring  all  the  moral  force  to  bear  upon  his  case  that 
can  be  brought.  He  employs  himself  in  the  work.  He 
sends  forth  his  servants  early  and  late.  He  sent  his  pro- 
phets. He  sent  his  Son.  He  sends  his  Spirit.  Angels 
are  employed — men  are  employed.  Like  a  father  whose 
child  has  fallen  into  the  river,  he  not  only  hastens  himself, 
but  he  calls  for  assistance.  The  angels  are  all  ministering 
spirits  in  this  work ;  and  men,  who  are  themselves  saved, 
are  immediately  pressed  into  the  service.  It  is  the  busi- 
ness of  the  church  of  the  living  God  to  help  him  in  saving 

*  We  do  not  understand  the  author  as  intending  to  affirm,  in  the 
above  paragraph,  either  that  God  is  incapable  of  doing  two  things  at 
the  same  moment,  or  that  he  is  literally  so  absorbed  in  accomplishing 
the  salvation  of  man,  that  he  neglects  to  pay  attention  to  the  remain- 
ing portions  of  his  works.  The  figure,  perhaps,  is  highly  wrought. — 
Editor. 


VII.]  THE  DUTY  OF    SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  109 

the  world.  And  in  tlie  intense  feelings  of  his  paternal 
heart,  he  pronounces  a  curse  upon  those  who  come  not  up 
to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty.  This  is  the 
work  of  all  the  church;  but  a  prominent  part  of  it  de- 
volves on  the  ministry.  Theirs  is  the  office  to  speak  for 
God — to  lift  up  the  voice  in  "  the  high  places,"  by  night 
and  by  day — in  all  seasons  praying  them,  in  Christ's  stead, 
to  be  reconciled  to  God.  In  the  discharge  of  this  holy 
office  we  come  to  you  and  beseech  you,  therefore,  to  sub- 
mit yourselves  to  God.  It  is  your  duty  and  your  interest 
to  do  so.  Duty  and  interest  go  hand  in  hand ;  they  are 
inseparable.  But  the  eye  of  faith  only  can  at  all  times 
see  the  link  that  unites  them.  Do  your  duty,  and  God 
will  take  care  of  your  interest.  If,  therefore,  we  show  it 
to  be  your  duty  to  submit  yourself  to  his  authority,  be  as- 
sured that  we  have  shown  it  also  to  be  your  highest  gain, 
glory,  and  happiness.     It  is  your  duty  then, 

I.  On  the  GROUNDS  OF  JUSTICE.  You  owc  liim  your 
allegiance.  You  are  his — not  your  own.  "  He  hath  made 
us,  and  not  we  ourselves."  When  a  workman  makes  a 
piece  of  mechanism — his  time  his  own — his  materials  his 
own — the  work  is  his.  He  has  a  right  to  whatever  honor 
or  profit  may  result  from  it.  If  he  is  by  any  means  de- 
prived of  the  honor  or  profit  of  his  labors,  injustice  is  done 
to  him.  So  with  God.  He  made  our  bodies — he  made 
our  souls.  We  are  his  in  a  more  perfect  sense  than  any 
piece  of  mechanism  can  be  the  property  of  man. 

He  made  us  for  his  glory.  Not  that  God  is  selfish ;  he 
is  the  reverse.  But  so  it  is,  that  the  glory  of  God  works 
the  highest  happiness  of  his  creatures.  The  more  they 
see  of  his  glory,  the  more  blessed  they  are.  New  creatures 
added  to  his  creation,  present  new  views  of  that  glory,  and 
contribute  additional  happiness  to  other  orders  of  being. 
Man,  being  created  in  the  image  of  God,  was  designed  to 
set  forth  new  and  delightful  views  of  the  divine  perfec- 
tions for  the  benefit  of  other  intelligences.  And  when  he 
fell,  defacing  the  divine  image,  he  committed  not  only  an 
act  of  injustice  toward  God,  but  a  fraud  upon  the  uni- 
verse. When  he  reached  forth  his  hand  and  took  the 
interdicted  fruit,  it  was  not  only  the  bough  of  the  tree 
whence  he  plucked  it  that  was  shaken,  but  the  earth ;  and 
the  jarring  vibration  grated  harsh  thunder  on  the  nerves 


110  THE  DUTY  OF  SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

of  all  holy  beings  through  the  Almighty's  boundless  do- 
main. God,  as  the  Father  and  Head  of  all,  feels  it  most 
sensibly.  He  is  injured  through  them.  He  resents  it, 
but  hastens  to  repair  it.  O  man !  who  art  living  in  sin, 
thou  art  injuring  and  defrauding  thy  Maker.  Every 
day,  every  hour,  of  thy  life,  art  thou  committing  the  most 
flagrant  act  of  injustice.  "Will  a  man  rob  God?"  was 
once  asked ;  and  answered,  "  Yea ;  ye  have  robbed  me, 
even  this  whole  nation."  And  this  was  the  best  nation  then 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Whole  nations  at  this  day  are 
robbing  him ;  and  as  it  is  with  nations,  so  it  is  with  indi- 
viduals. They  think  it  a  matter  of  course.  There  is  many 
a  man  who  would  scorn  to  be  dishonest  toward  his  fellow- 
man,  who  thinks  it  no  discredit  to  be  dishonest  toward 
God.  Nay,  we  act  like  a  horde  of  banditti,  who,  for  mu- 
tual interest,  agree  not  to  rob  each  other,  and  punish  dis- 
honesty among  themselves,  while  they  conspire  together 
to  rob  others.  So  men  make  laws  to  regulate  the 
administration  of  justice  among  themselves,  punishing 
departures  from  it  with  great  severity,  while  each  esteems 
it  a  trifling  thing  to  trample  on  the  rights  of  his  Maker. 
Alas !  what  madness,  as  though  God  did  not  see  ;  as 
though  the  Almighty  did  not  regard.  Yerily,  there  is  a 
day  of  reckoning  at  hand,  when  men  will  learn  tliat  the 
Majesty  of  heaven  cannot  be  insulted  and  defrauded  with 
impunity. 

If  God  had  created  us  for  any  other  than  a  benevolent 
purpose,  we  might  have  some  excuse  for  treating  him  thus. 
If  we  had  been  the  creatures  of  a  malevolent  being — if 
we  had  been  brought  into  existence  miserable,  and  to  he 
miserable,  we  might  have  been  under  no  obligations  to 
serve  our  Maker.  But  if  God  has  created  us  for  his  glory 
— to  show  forth  his  glory,  and  to  share  his  glory — to  be 
happy,  and  to  make  others  happy — then  are  we  as  depraved 
as  Satan  himself,  or  we  would  not  refuse  liim  his  due ; — it 
is  our  reasonable  service.  We,  therefore,  argue  the  duty 
of  submission  to  him, 

IT.  On  the  GROUNDS  OF  GRATITUDE.  Had  we  re- 
mained holy  as  he  made  us,  we  might  have  claimed  his 
protection,  and  everything  we  needed  for  our  happiness, 
on  the  grounds  of  justice.  Justice  itself  demands  that 
God  shall  guard  the  happiness  of  those  who  do  his  wiU 


VII.]  THE  DUTY   OF   SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  Ill 

and  abide  in  their  first  estate.  While  they  do  right, 
justice  will  secure  their  happiness.  But  the  sin  of  man 
arrayed  the  justice  of  God  against  him.  Justice  called  for 
his  destruction,  not  his  safety.  He  had  nothing  more  to 
look  for  on  that  ground  but  judgment  and  fiery  indignation. 
If,  therefore,  he  is  not  destroyed,  it  is  of  mercy.  His  pre- 
servation— his  food,  raiment,  every  good  of  this  life,  and 
all  spiritual  blessings — enlightenment,  conviction,  justifica- 
tion, regeneration,  sanctification,  faith,  hope,  love,  comfort 
here,  and  glory  hereafter — all  are  of  mercy.  Herein  are 
the  claims  that  God  has  on  our  gratitude.  He  has  gone 
far  beyond  what  justice  required  of  him  as  our  Creator 
and  Preserver.  He  has  in  mercy  become  our  Redeemer. 
This  heightens  his  claims  on  our  hearts  and  services,  and 
we  become  not  only  unjust,  but  ungrateful,  if  we  refuse  to 
submit.     For  illustration  let  us  suppose  a  case. 

We  have  read  of  a  man — such  a  one  as  Howard,  the 
philanthropist — in  a  distant  country.  He  was  a  good  man 
— virtuous,  benevolent ;  went  about,  like  his  Master,  doing 
good — every  way  amiable,  and  worthy  of  being  loved.  We 
feel  as  if  such  a  one  had  a  claim  upon  us — on  our  ad- 
miration, on  our  affections.  He  was  an  honor  to  humanity, 
and  a  blessing  to  his  race ;  and,  as  such,  we  admire,  we 
love  him.  This  is  the  lowest  ground  on  which  the  claims 
of  God  rest.  We  have  heard  of  him  by  the  hearing  of  the 
ear.  He  is  great,  wise,  powerful,  benevolent ;  he  has  con- 
ferred inestimable  blessings  on  our  race:  we  ought  to 
admire,  we  ought  to  love  him,  with  a  boundless  affection. 
Howard's  benevolence  was  only  a  drop  from  this  ocean ; 
the  virtues  of  all  good  men,  in  all  ages,  were  only  as  the 
twinkling  stars  to  the  sun  ;  or  as  the  light  of  the  moon 
received  from  him  and  reflected  on  the  world.  Even  here 
his  claims  are  beyond  expression — infinite. 

But  if  such  a  virtuous  and  benevolent  man,  as  we  have 
supposed,  were  our  neighbor — pur  kinsman,  our  personal 
friend,  to  whom  we  could  go  at  any  time  and  tell  our  wants 
and  woes,  and  find  a  sympathizing  heart  and  an  open 
hand ;  if  he  were  such  a  one  as  would  come  to  us  of  his 
own  accord,  and  encourage  us  to  tell  him  our  need,  in  order 
to  relieve  it,  methinks  our  very  selfishness  would  teach  us 
to  love  him.  Could  we  value  such  a  friend  too  highly? 
Could  we  love  him  too  much  ?    Could  we  refuse  him  any 


112  THE  DUTY  OF  SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

reasonable  demand  ?  No ;  or  we  would  be  demons,  not 
men.  And  is  not  God  all  this  to  us  ?  Has  lie  not  come 
nigh  us,  pitching  his  tabernacle  among  men  ?  Does  he  not 
come  of  liis  own  accord  and  tell  us  to  cast  our  burdens 
on  him  ?  Does  not  he  encourage  us  to  open  our  enlarged 
desires — to  ask  and  receive,  that  our  joy  may  be  full? 
He  is  the  Friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother; 
whose  care  exceeds  that  of  a  father,  and  his  tenderness 
that  of  a  mother.  Submit  yourselves,  therefore,  to  God. 
Suffer  him  no  longer  in  bitterness  to  exclaim,  "  I  have 
nourished  and  brought  up  children,  and  they  have  rebelled 
against  me." 

But  if  this  supposed  friend  of  ours — this  kinsman, 
brother,  or  father — were  to  go  further  than  merely  to  give 
his  substance  to  us  as  we  had  need  ;  if  he  were  willing  to 
undergo  personal  loss  and  suffering  for  our  sake,  what, 
then,  would  not  his  claims  rise  still  higher,  and  our  obli- 
gations correspond  with  them  ?  Most  certainly.  A  man 
will  part  with  his  property  before  he  will  give  his  back  to 
the  lash,  or  his  feet  to  the  stocks ;  and  "  all  that  a  man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life."  Personal  suffering,  there- 
fore, is  the  highest  proof  of  love ;  and  this  is  not  wanting 
in  our  heavenly  Friend.  Perhaps  our  philosophy  may 
scarcely  allow  us  to  think  of  the  Father  as  capable  of  suf- 
fering, though  he  gives  his  beloved,  his  only -begotten  Son, 
from  his  bosom,  as  a  sacrifice  for  us ;  appeahng  to  our 
parental  feelings  to  teach  us  the  value  of  the  gift,  "  God 
so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son ;" 
gave  him  to  labor,  to  shame,  to  death.  Ah !  if  this  was 
not  suffering,  it  was  as  near  it  as  the  infinite  God  could 
approach.  It  ivas  suffering  in  the  person  of  his  Son.  But 
think  of  this  as  we  please,  there  is  one  who  did  suffer  for 
us.  If  God  could  not  suffer,  the  God-man  could,  and  did. 
What  suffering ! 

If,  like  another  prodigal,  you  had  received  the  portion 
of  goods  that  fell  to  your  shai'e ;  had  taken  your  journey 
into  a  far-off  land  ;  had  there  spent  your  substance  whether 
in  riot  or  misfortune ;  had  lost  all ;  were  in  debt — insol- 
vently  in  debt ;  had  broken  the  laws,  and  were  cast  into 
prison,  whence  there  was  no  release  until  you  had  paid 
the  uttermost  farthing — money  gone,  hope  gone,  friends  all 
distant — around  you  bolts,  and  bars,  and  chains,  and  the 


VII.]  THE  DUTY  OF  SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  113 

sounds  of  the  lash,  and  the  groans  of  the  prisoner ;  and  ever 
and  anon  the  whip  was  mercilessly  applied  to  your  own 
body,  ploughing  up  the  flesh,  and  leaving  it  like  the  fur- 
rowed field,  till  you  sunk  in  despairing  agony — O  what 
would  you  give  for  a  friend ;  a  friend  who  could  relieve 
you!  Suppose  a  brother  hears  of  your  sad  estate  in  a 
distant  land :  he  is  happy  in  the  society  of  his  friends ;  his 
father's  house  affords  him  unfailing  pleasures;  he  is  wealthy; 
but  what  is  this  to  him  while  a  brother  lies  in  a  dungeon  ? 
He  sells  all,  or  rather  gathers  up  his  treasures,  leaves  his 
father's  house — flies  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  hastens  to  the 
door  of  your  cell,  and  says,  "  Let  the  prisoner  go  free,  I  will 
pay  all  his  debts."  "  No,"  says  the  stern  jailer,  "  it  must 
not  be — ^he  has  broken  the  law,  and  there  he  must  lie,  and 
be  beaten  with  many  stripes,  unless  some  one  will  take  his 
place  and  bear  his  punishment."  "Open  the  door,"  says 
your  brother,  "  I  will  be  bound  with  his  chain,  I  will  lie  in 
his  dungeon,  I  will  bear  his  chastisement,  I  will  die  his 
death  !  Open  the  door,  and  let  the  prisoner  go  free  !"  O 
had  you  such  a  friend!  And  have  you  not?  Behold 
him !  Lift  up  your  eyes  to  heaven !  He  lays  aside  his 
crown.  He  strips  off  his  royal  robes.  He  comes  down 
from  the  throne.  He  presses  through  shining  ranks  of 
adoring  ministers.  He  passes  the  azure  portals.  He 
flies  with  lightning  speed.  Behind  liim  is  heaven  with  its 
glory ;  before  him  is  earth  with  its  shame.  Behind  him 
is  the  crown  and  the  throne  ;  before  him  is  the  manger 
and  the  cross.  Behind  him  are  the  angels  with  their 
hosannas;  before  him  are  men  with  their  curses.  Still 
onward  he  flies.  He  has  heard  of  thee,  poor  sinner,  in  thy 
dungeon — in  thy  darkness  and  blindness — and  he  comes  to 
"  proclaim  deliverance  to  the  captive,  and  the  opening  of 
the  prison  doors  to  them  that  are  bound."  Look  up ;  thou 
hast  found  thy  Friend  at  last !  rather,  he  hath  found  thee — 
found  thee  "  stripped,  wounded,  and  beaten,  and  nigh  unto 
death" — dying — dead.  But  his  voice  will  bring  thee  to  life ; 
restore  thee  to  health,  to  liberty,  and  to  the  glory  of  God. 
Alas  that  such  a  friend  should  have  to  die  for  me  !  Yet 
so  it  is.  Without  the  shedding  of  his  blood  there  can  be 
no  remission.  "  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that 
a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friend."  "  But  God  com- 
mendeth  his  love  toward  us,  in  that  while  we  were  yet 


114  THE  DUTY   OF   SUBMISSION   TO   GOD.  [SER. 

sinners  Christ  died  for  us."  And  such  a  death !  the  death 
of  the  cross — shameful,  painful,  agonizing !  He  bare  our 
sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree.  Who  can  refuse  his 
claim?     What  is  it?    Love. 

"  0  !  yield  to  love's  resistless  power, 
And  fight  against  your  God  no  more." 

The  man  who  returns  ingratitude  for  kindness  is  the 
blackest  of  his  race.  Others  may  have  a  more  sable  skin, 
but  he  has  the  darkest  heart.  Common  sinners  shun  his 
society ;  and  the  good  account  him  a  demon  incarnate. 
Tell  me,  have  you  shown  no  ingratitude  ?  Yes  :  and  such 
ingratitude  !  and  for  such  kindness  !  You  have  trampled, 
in  your  drunken  revels,  on  the  mangled  body  of  the  Friend 
who  died  for  you.  You  have  scorned  the  religion,  and 
scoffed  the  name  of  the  Saviour,  whose  hand  keeps  you 
every  moment  from  dropping  into  hell !  You  have 
neglected  his  great  salvation,  and  have  crucified  him 
afresh  by  your  sins — 

"  Pointed  the  nail,  and  fix'd  the  thorn." 

If  this  suffering  had  been  endured  for  an  equal  and  a 
friend,  it  would  have  been  accounted  an  exhibition  of 
extraordinary  love.  If  it  had  been  endured  for  an  inferior 
and  a  friend,  it  would  have  been  greater  still.  But  when 
we  come  to  remember  that  it  was  endured  for  an  inferior  and 
an  enemy,  it  is  beyond  comprehension.  He  died  to  make 
slaves  to  Satan  his  friends,  to  exalt  them  to  his  own  glory, 
and  seat  them  on  his  oAvn  throne.  He  shed  his  blood  to 
redeem  us,  and  he  lives  to  advocate  our  cause.  He  arose 
for  our  justification.  Notwithstanding  all  our  base  ingrati- 
tude he  pleads  our  cause  above,  y^^e  would  have  been  in 
hell  long  since  if  the  Saviour  had  ceased  to  plead.  Possi- 
bly, while  we  have  been  blaspheming  his  name  on  earth 
he  has  been  interceding  for  us  in  heaven.  Were  he  to 
drop  our  cause  for  a  moment  we  would  wake  up  in  the 
torments  of  the  damned.  And  are  we  still  ungrateful? 
Do  we  still  decline  to  love  him  ?  Yes  ;  he  is  hated  by  us, 
while  w^e  are  living  in  sin— while  we  refuse  to  submit 
ourselves  to  God. 

Perhaps  you  are  not  convinced  that  you  hate  God — that 
you  hate  the  Saviour.  Try  it  by  an  infallible  test.  Do 
you  love  to  converse  with  him  ?     Do  you  love  prayer  ? 


VII.J  THE  DUTY  OF  SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  115 

If  you  saw  two  persons  working  together  in  the  same  shop, 
or  the  same  field,  both  blessed  with  the  faculty  of  speech, 
and  delighting  to  converse  with  all  others,  but  never  con- 
versing with  each  other,  what  would  be  your  conclusion  ? 
That  they  loved  each  other  ?  By  no  means ;  but  the 
reverse.  If  you  saw  one  person  using  every  art  to  please 
another,  and  draw  him  into  conversation,  and  the  second 
person  avoided  his  presence,  and  refused  intercourse,  what 
would  you  think  ?  That  the  second  person  loved  the  first  ? 
Surely  not.  It  is  our  pleasure  to  be  in  the  society  of  those 
we  love,  and  to  converse  with  them.  We  love  to  speak  to 
them,  and  to  hear  them  speak.  Prayer  is  speaking  to 
God.  Worship  is  coming  into  his  presence,  and  waiting 
upon  him — is  listening  to  his  voice.  How  long  since  some 
of  us  prayed  ?  A  year  ?  It  may  be  five  or  ten :  possibly 
more.  A  few  years  ago,  when  that  splendid  meteoric 
shower  occurred  all  over  the  country,  a  few  old  sinners 
huddled  together  aiFrighted,  thinking  that  the  great  day  of 
wrath  was  indeed  come.  "  Pray  for  us,"  said  one  to  the 
oldest  man  in  the  group.  "  Mercy  on  me,"  said  he,  "  I 
cannot  pray.  I  never  prayed  in  my  life."  Did  he  love 
God  ?  God  was  always  present,  and  he  could  have  spoken 
to  him  at  any  time.  But  he  did  not,  because  he  did  not 
love  him.     Indulge  me  in  a  parable : — 

There  was  a  wealthy  and  benevolent  parent  who  had  a 
son  in  whom  he  delighted.  Everything  was  done  for  the 
youth,  that  could  be  done  for  him,  to  make  him  happy. 
The  father  doated  on  him ;  but  the  youth,  as  he  grew  up, 
manifested  a  strange,  unnatural  aversion  to  his  father.  He 
shunned  his  presence ;  would  not  speak  to  him  when  he 
could  avoid  it;  fled  at  his  approach,  in  terror  and  dis- 
gust. The  fond  father  might  be  seen  following  him  with 
tears  in  his  eyes ;  calling  to  him ;  pleading  with  him ; 
making  the  most  encouraging  promises  ;  using  every  possi- 
ble artifice  of  love  to  win  his  affections — still  the  son  hated 
him,  and  shunned  him.  Only  when  he  had  plunged  himself 
into  difficulties,  from  which  no  one  else  could  extricate  him, 
would  he  reluctantly  call  upon  his  father.  The  father, 
glad  of  an  opportunity  to  show  his  love,  always  relieved 
him:  took  him  out  of  prison;  bound  up  his  wounds, 
gave  him  medicine,  wptched  over  him  with  tenderness, 
and  restored  him.     Restored  him  to  health  ;  but,  alas,  not 


116  THE  DUTY  OF  SUBMISSION  TO  GOD.  [SEK. 

to  love !  No  sooner  was  he  able  to  go  abroad,  than  his  old 
feehngs  and  habits  returned.  He  still  hated  his  father. 
What  should  have  been  done  with  so  ungrateful  a  child  ? 
Cast  him  out — disinherit  him !  He  is  not  worthy  of  being 
the  heir.  Who  is  that  undutiful,  unnatural,  ungrateful, 
hating  and  hateful  child  ?  Prayerless  sinner,  ask  thy  con- 
science. Thou  art  the  man!  God,  thy  father,  has  fed, 
clothed,  sustained,  and  blessed  thee.  He  has  followed 
thee  by  day  and  by  night,  to  win  thy  heart.  He  has 
spoken  by  his  providence,  his  word,  and  his  Spirit — as  thou 
hast  sat  in  thy  house,  as  thou  hast  walked  by  the  way,  in 
the  silence  of  thine  own  bedchamber,  in  the  stillness  of 
the  night,  liis  still  small  voice  sounded  in  thine  ears: 
"  Hearken  unto  me ;  come  unto  me ;  call  upon  me,  and  I 
will  answer."  But  you  would  not.  Lo !  these  many  years 
he  has  followed  you,  has  been  near  you  all  the  time ;  but 
you  have  not  spoken.  Yes;  once  or  twice.  When  you 
were  sick ;  when  death  stared  you  in  the  face  ;  when  the 
grave  yawned ;  when  hell  opened — O !  then  you  called  upon 
him.  He  heard  you  ;  he  healed  you  ;  he  raised  you  up ! 
How  soon  you  forgot  your  Father  and  your  vows !  You 
have  pronounced  your  own  sentence.  You  must  be  cast 
out — disinherited — have  no  place  among  the  children. 
The  Lord  grant  you  repentance;  take  away  your  des- 
perately wicked  heart — your  stony  heart — and  give  you  a 
heart  of  flesh.  That  heart  of  yours  hates  God ;  you  can- 
not deny  it.     It  must  be  so,  or  you  would  love  to  pray. 

We  have  said  that  man  was  created  to  glorify  God ;  and 
that  in  showing  forth  his  glory  other  beings  w^ere  intended 
to  be  blessed  through  him.  To  know  God  is  the  chief  good 
of  man.  So  it  is  with  other  beings.  Man  is  the  work- 
manship of  God ;  to  exhibit  his  perfections ;  to  declare  his 
knowledge,  power,  and  goodness.  Every  new  exhibition 
of  these  attributes  increases  the  sum  of  universal  know- 
ledge and  happiness.  God  has  a  right  to  this  use  of  his 
property ;  and  man,  refusing,  betrays  his  trust,  dishonors 
his  God,  and  does  him  great  injustice. 

I  am  acquainted  with  a  man  who  has  spent,  perhaps, 
the  one-third  part  of  the  last  twenty-one  years  in  plan- 
ning, constructing,  and  bringing  to  perfection,  one  piece 
of  mechanism.  It  has  cost  him  much  money,  and  more 
labor;  but  the  drudgery  of  thought  was  immense.     He 


VII.]  THE  DUTY   OF   SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  117 

is  an  unlettered  man,  in  moderate  circumstances ;  but  his 
genius  is  of  a  high  order.  Tliis  piece  of  mechanism  is  a 
chronometer.  It  is  intended  to  indicate  not  only  the  hour 
of  the  day,  and  the  minute  of  the  hour,  and  the  second  of 
the  minute,  as  in  ordinary  time-pieces ;  but  also,  if  I  re- 
member rightly,  the  day  of  the  week,  the  month,  and  the 
day  of  the  month,  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun,  the 
rising  and  setting,  and  different  phases,  of  the  moon,  &c. 
But  besides  all  this,  it  has  connected  with  it  a  planeta- 
rium, or  representation  of  the  solar  system.  All  the 
primary  planets  are  there,  and  some  of  the  secondary ;  all 
in  their  appropriate  orbits,  and  at  their  appropriate  dis- 
tances from  the  sun,  and  from  each  other ;'  showing,  also, 
the  inclmation  of  then-  orbits  from  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic; 
and  each  performing  its  revolutions  in  the  regular  time, 
as  in  nature :  a  wonderful  work,  should  he  ever  finish  it. 
If  successful,  it  would  enroll  his  name  on  the  records  of 
earthly  glory. 

Now,  suppose  this  man  is  successful  in  completing  his 
workmansliip,  and  pronouncing  his  mechanism  perfect, 
does,  as  is  often  done,  employ  some  one  in  whom  he 
reposes  confidence,  as  his  agent,  to  go  forth,  and  exhibit 
his  work  to  the  world,  that  he  may  reap  some  reward  for 
so  many  years  of  patient  toil.  He  justly  looks  for  praise 
and  gain.  The  agent  goes  abroad.  He  is  successful. 
The  work  is  perfect.  The  world  admires,  and  he  is  gather- 
ing treasure  for  his  employer.  This  man  of  genius,  we 
will  suppose,  has  an  enemy ;  one  who  has  long  sought  to 
injure  him.  He  seeks  out  the  agent.  By  fair  speeches 
he  seduces  him  from  his  integrity.  The  agent  consents 
that  the  enemy  shall  put  his  hand  within  the  mechanism, 
and  derange  and  break  some  important  part  of  the  work, 
wliich  will  be  unnoticed  by  the  spectator.  It  is  done. 
The  crowd  gather  together  to  see  the  new  invention — the 
last  wonder  of  the  age.  They  are  disappointed.  It  an- 
swers not  to  the  description.  It  does  not  fulfill  its  design. 
There  are  plenty  of  wheels  there,  but  they  move  not ;  or 
move  too  fast  or  too  slow — irregularly ;  it  is  a  failure  in  their 
estimation,  and  so  they  report  it.  It  gets  into  the  papers 
of  the  day,  is  pronounced  a  hoax — another  of  the  hum- 
bugs of  the  times.  The  maii  of  genius  is  defrauded.  He 
suffers  the  grossest  injustice.     Men  account  him,  probably, 


118  THE  DUTY   OF   SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

a  fool  and  a  knave,  instead  of  an  honor  to  his  country, 
and  a  blessing  to  his  race.  What  is  the  matter  ?  Is  not 
his  workmanship  there  ?  Yes ;  but  through  perfidy  it  is 
hindered  from  fulfilling  its  design,  and  he  loses  his 
reward. 

Man  is  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made.  He  is  both  the 
machine  and  the  agent  who  exhibits  it.  God  made  him  in 
his  own  image,  as  if  to  show  to  the  universe  what  he  is, 
and  what  he  can  do.  He  pronounces  him  good,  very 
good.  The  attendant  angels  shout  with  ecstasies  over  the 
last  exhibition  of  their  Creator's  skill  and  power,  and  the 
morning  stars  dance  in  their  spheres,  and  sing  for  joy. 
Man  is  sent  forth  to  show  himself  to  the  universe,  that  all 
may  glorify  God  in  him.  But  the  enemy  finds  him.  By 
subtilty  he  beguiles  him.  He  gets  his  marring  hand  with- 
in the  Avorks.  He  deranges  them,  and  defaces  the  image 
of  God.  Man  no  longer  fulfills  his  destiny.  He  is  a  fail- 
ure through  fraud.  God  made  man  perfect,  but  Satan, 
with  man's  consent,  has  marred  the  work ;  and,  as  that 
marred,  deranged  work,  is  now  presented  before  the  uni- 
verse as  God's  work :  it  is  disgracing  him,  it  is  pouring 
obloquy  on  his  intelligence  and  goodness.  There  is  enough 
in  man  to  show  what  was  intended,  it  may  be,  but  he  ful- 
fills not  his  end.  The  wheels  move  not — or  move  too  fast 
or  too  slovr — they  are  out  of  order.  We  refer  chiefly  to 
his  moral  nature.  But  the  derangement  of  this  affects 
also  his  mental  and  physical  powers.  Man  is  ruined,  and 
God  is  robbed.  No  wonder  men,  sometimes,  in  looking  at 
themselves,  and  the  derangement  within  them  and  about 
them,  begin  to  question  whether  indeed  they  are  the  work 
of  a  wise  and  holy  God,  or  of  some  inferior  and  imperfect 
being — possibly  of  a  demon  ;  or  whether  they  have  not 
sprung  forth  from  some  fortuitous  confluence  of  atoms.  In 
short,  whether  there  be  a  God,  or  whether  they  came  by 
chance.  They  are  so  disordered  in  their  moral  structure, 
that  they  cannot  recognize  themselves  as  the  creatures  of 
an  infinitely  perfect  Creator.  Man  in  his  ruined  state, 
standing  forth  professing  himself  as  the  work  of  God,  is 
the  grand  humbug  of  time — a  hoax  on  the  universe,  and  a 
living,  moving  libel  on  the  intellectual  and  moral  charac- 
ter of  Jehovah.  As  he  is,  he  is  not  wholly  the  work  of 
God.      Satan   has   marred   the   handiwork,  defaced   the 


VII.]  THE  DUTY  OF   SUBMISSION  TO   GOD.  119 

image  of  the  Holy  One,  and  placed  his  own  in  its  stead, 
which  he  falsely  exhibits  as  the  representation  of  man's 
Creator. 

O !  perfidy,  deep,  black,  and  damning  !  The  creature 
destroyed  and  the  Creator  dishonored  !  What  can  be  done 
to  remedy  the  evil?  May  the  mechanism  be  repaired? 
Can  it  yet  keep  time  in  the  service  of  its  Maker  ?  It  may 
be;  but  not  by  man.  Such  a  piece  of  work  as  the  clock 
mentioned  could  not  be  put  in  order  by  everybody.  It 
must  go  back  to  the  inventor.  Convince  the  agent  of  his 
sin,  and  get  him  to  return,  get  it  repaired,  and  start  again. 
No  other  way  will  do.  So  with  man.  He  must  take  hun- 
self  back  to  God.  He  alone  can  regulate  his  passions,  his 
will,  his  heart.  He  must  be  made  over,  so  thorough  is  his 
ruin ;  and  none  but  God,  who  made  him,  can  remake  him. 
He  must  be  created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works. 
Only  thus  can  he  fulfill  his  destiny.  Only  thus  can  he 
glorify  God.  Only  thus  can  he  be  happy,  or  make  others 
happy. 

Sinner,  you  are  acting  the  part  of  that  treacherous  agent. 
Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out.  Repent  in  time  of 
your  deeds  of  infamy.  Cease  to  defraud,  to  rob,  and  dis- 
honor your  maker,  God.  Down  with  you  in  the  dust  at 
his  feet — it  becomes  you — for  hell  scarcely  contains  a  more 
hideous  or  guilty  being.  "  Return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he 
will  have  mercy  upon  you ;  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will 
abundantly  pardon."  Pray  to  him,  and  he  will  create  with- 
in you  a  clean  heart,  and  reneiu  within  you  a  right  spirit. 
"  Submit  yourselves,  therefore,  to  God." 


120  CONSECRATION  TO   GOD.  [SEB. 

SERMON  VIII. 
Consecration  to  God. 

BY  REV.  FREDERICK  MERRICK,  A.  M., 

PROFESSOR  OF  NATURAL    SCIENCE  IN    THE    OHIO   WESLEYAN    UNIVERSITY. 

"  I  beseech  yon  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  that  ye 
present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  nnto  God, 
which  is  yonr  reasonable  service." — Romans  xii,  1. 

As  a  system  of  religious  truth,  Christianity  is  as  much 
above  all  other  religions  as  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the 
earth — as  God's  thoughts  and  ways  are  above  those  of 
man.  Well  might  the  apostle,  after  unfolding  some  of 
these  glorious  truths  in  the  preceding  part  of  his  epistle, 
overM^helmed  with  their  importance  and  sublimity,  ex- 
claim, "  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  God  !"  But  Christianity  is  not  a  system  of 
mere  abstract  doctrines.  It  teaches  and  enforces  the  purest 
morality,  and  the  loftiest  piety.  Its  doctrinal  form  of  sound 
words  is  not  more  remarkable  than  its  practical  precepts, 
and  exhortations  to  a  holy  life.  Thus  St.  Paul,  in  this 
epistle,  after  closing  his  doctrinal  discussion,  proceeds  to 
enforce  the  duties  these  doctrines  are  intended  to  inculcate, 
in  a  great  variety  of  practical  remarks  ;  urging,  with  pro- 
priety, first  of  all,  the  duty  of  entire  consecration  to  God. 
^^  I  beseech  you  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God, 
that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  accepta- 
ble unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service.''^ 

In  speaking  upon  these  words,  I  shall  endeavor  to  ex- 
plain the  duty  of  consecration  to  God ;  show  its  reasonable- 
ness ;  and  enforce  the  duty  from  a  view  of  God's  mercies. 
And  may  the  Holy  Spirit  so  apply  the  truth  to  our  hearts, 
that  we  may  all  be  led  to  render  this  reasonable  service. 

I.  Consecration  to  god. 

The  language  of  the  text  is  metaphorical.  Allusion  is 
made  to  the  offering  of  sacrifices  under  the  Mosaic  dispen- 
sation. Now,  as  an  offering  when  presented  at  the  altar 
was  regarded  as  sanctified,  or  set  apart  exclusively  for  the 
worship  and  service  of  God,  so  we  are  to  consecrate  our- 


VIII.]  CONSECRATION  TO   GOD.  121 

selves  to  him,  hencefortli,  not  regarding  ourselves  as  our 
own,  but  the  Lord's.  God  made  man  for  himself — to  love 
and  serve  him.  But,  as  a  sinner,  instead  of  living  to  God, 
he  lives  to  himself.  God  does  not,  however,  relinquish  his 
claims,  nor  is  man  freed  from  his  obligations.  It  is  still 
his  duty  to  serve  God.  Ceasing  at  once  and  for  ever  to 
walk  in  the  ways  of  his  own  heart,  and  after  the  sight  of 
his  own  eyes,  he  should  make  the  will  of  God  his  only 
rule  of  life.  He  is  under  the  most  solemn  obligations  to 
glorify  God  in  his  body  and  spirit  which  are  God's.  Feel- 
ing that  he  is  not  his  own,  but  the  Lord's,  instead  of  seek- 
ing his  own  pleasure,  the  language  of  his  heart  should 
continually  be,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?" 
"  Not  as  /  will,  but  as  thou  wilt."  Consecration  to  God  is 
the  denying  of  self,  and  yielding  to  God's  claims.  In  this 
act  we 

"  Give  up  ourselves  through  Jesus'  power, 
His  name  to  glorify ;" 

solemnly  promising  that  whether  we  live  we  will  live  unto 
the  Lord,  or  whether  we  die  we  will  die  unto  the  Lord. 
There  are  several  particulars,  however,  alluded  to  in  the 
text  respecting  this  duty,  which  it  may  be  well  to  notice. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  represented  as  something  to  he 
done  by  us, — "present  your  bodies."  The  worshiper  at 
the  temple  brought  his  own  oiFering  and  presented  it  to  the 
Lord,  and  this  he  did  "  voluntarily."  In  the  work  of  his 
salvation,  man  must  co-operate  with  God.  There  are  du- 
ties which  he  must  perform,  there  are  conditions  with 
which  he  must  comply,  or  he  cannot  be  saved.  He  must 
"  work  out  liis  own  salvation,"  or  perish.  True,  he  does 
nothing  unaided:  the  Spirit  helpeth  his  infirmities.  Of 
himself  he  can  do  nothing,  only  as  God  works  in  him  both 
to  will  and  to  do.  But  this  gracious  influence  does  not 
irresistibly  force  him  to  act,  nor  does  it  act  for  him.  It 
simply  enables  him  to  do  what  is  required,  and  furnishes 
him  with  motives  to  action.  Thus  aided,  he  must  act  for 
himself.  Life  and  death  are  set  before  him,  and  it  is  for 
him  to  make  the  election,  and  upon  this  election  depends 
his  eternal  happiness,  or  endless  ruin.  Not  that  he  is 
saved  by  works,  for  after  having  done  all,  he  is  but  an  un- 
profit  able  servant.  His  salvation  is  entirely  of  grace, 
though  conditional. 

6 


122  CONSECRATION  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

Consecrating  himself  to  God  is  a  part  of  what  man  is 
required  to  do.  He  must  "  break  off  his  sins  by  righteous- 
ness, and  his  iniquities  by  turning  unto  the  Lord ; "  "  yield- 
ing his  members  as  instruments  of  righteousness  unto  God." 
He  himself  must  bring  the  sacrifice  and  lay  it  upon  the 
altar.  God  will  not  do  this  for  him.  He  will  have  a  vol- 
untary service  or  none.  This  may  be  a  difficult  work.  It 
always  is.  The  will  bends  reluctantly ;  self  pleads  per- 
suasively; unbelief  suggests  a  thousand  fears;  the  great 
adversary,  and  all  the. influences  which  operate  upon  the 
soul  in  opposition  to  God,  combine  to  prevent  such  a  step. 
But  it  can  be  taken,  and  it  must  be  taken.  The  will  must 
yield,  self  must  be  denied,  God  must  be  trusted,  the  devil 
resisted,  and  the  offering  made. 

But,  secondly,  this  consecration  should  be  entire.  The 
whole  of  the  beast,  and  of  whatever  was  offered  in  the 
worship  of  the  temple,  was  considered  sacred ;  and  to  ap- 
propriate any  part  of  it  afterward  to  ordinary  uses  was 
regarded  as  sacrilege.  In  some  cases  all  was  consumed 
upon  the  altar;  in  others  a  portion  went  to  the  priest;  but 
even  this  was  "  a  thing  most  holy,  an  offering  unto  the 
Lord."  So  in  the  act  of  consecration,  nothing  should  be 
kept  back,  everything  should  be  given  up  to  the  Lord. 
The  sentiment  of  the  poet  should  be  fully  adopted : — 

"  Our  souls  and  bodies  we  resign  : 
Witk  joy  wc  render  thee 
Our  all,  no  longer  ours,  but  thine 
To  all  eternity." 

Though  in  the  text  the  body  only  is  named,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  but  the  entire  person  is  intended.  By  a  com- 
mon figure  a  part  is  put  for  the  whole.  The  soul,  cer- 
tainly, as  well  as  the  body,  is  to  be  consecrated  to  God. 
Nor  should  the  consecration  stop  here.  Time,  property, 
influence,  and  "  all  that  a  man  hath,"  should  be  given  to  the 
Lord.  As  this  is  a  point  of  great  practical  importance,  and 
one  which,  there  is  reason  to  fear,  is  not  sufficiently  regarded 
by  most,  I  shall  dwell  upon  it  a  little  more  at  length. 

No  doubt  the  reason  why  many  who  profess  to  be  pen- 
itent seekers  of  religion  are  not  converted  is,  that  they  do 
not  make  an  entire  surrender  of  all  to  God.  Self  is  allowed 
some  little  indulgence.  There  is  some  idol  with  which 
they  are  not  willing  to  part — some  secret  bosom  sin.     Such 


VIII.]  CONSECRATION  TO  GOD.  I2f^ 

persons  may  be  deeply  awakened,  and  have  strong  desires 
to  become  Christians.  They  may  weep  much,  pray  long, 
and  struggle  hard :  for  them  prayer  may  be  made  without 
ceasing ;  but  not  denying  themselves  fully,  they  remain 
unforgiven.  Some,  deceiving  themselves,  charge  God  fool- 
ishly with  an  unwillingness  to  save  them,  and  cease  their 
efforts.  Others  yield  to  doubt  respecting  the  reality  of 
experimental  religion ;  and  question,  perhaps,  the  truth  of 
God.  Falling  into  this  snare  of  the  devil,  they  become 
twofold  more  his  children  than  before.  While  others, 
scarcely  less  fatally  deceived,  think  to  satisfy  God  with  a 
partial  sacrifice.  They  will  consent  to  join  the  church, 
lead  an  outwardly  moral  life,  attend  to  the  external  duties 
of  religion,  and  contribute  a  little  occasionally  for  religious 
and  benevolent  purposes.  For  the  rest,  the  claims  of  self 
are  fully  allowed.  And  even  in  what  they  do  professedly 
for  God,  they  are  actuated  by  motives  purely  selfish.  They 
wish  to  escape  the  pains  of  hell,  and  secure  the  joys  of 
heaven ;  and  for  this  they  are  willing  to  make  a  compro- 
mise with  the  Almighty.  Some  of  this  class,  "  compassing 
themselves  about  with  sparks,  walking  in  the  light  of  their 
own  fire,  and  in  the  sparks  they  have  kindled,"  may  be- 
come very  zealous  in  religion.  But  their  zeal  is  selfish. 
They  would  persuade  themselves  and  others  that  they  are 
real  Christians,  though  never  born  of  God.  They  would 
count  themselves  heirs  of  heaven,  though,  in  fact,  children 
of  the  wicked  one. 

"  Mistaken  souls  that  dream  of  heaven, 
And  make  their  empty  boast 
Of  inward  joys,  and  sins  forgiven, 
While  they  are  slaves  to  lust." 

The  religion  of  all  such  is  vain.  Indeed  few  are  in  a 
more  hopeless  state.  Deceiving  and  being  deceived.  Of 
such  God  has  said,  "  This  shall  ye  have  of  my  hand,  ye 
shall  lie  down  in  sorrow."  "  Not  every  one,"  says  Christ, 
"  that  saith  unto  me.  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  Thus  many  fail  of  conversion,  and 
fall  into  these  dangerous  errors,  because  of  their  unwilling- 
ness to  serve  God  fully.  They  must  reserve  a  part  of  the 
offering  for  themselves,  and  God  will  not,  cannot,  share  it 
with  them. 


124  CONSECRATION    TO   GOD.  [SEK. 

But  though  at  conversion  there  is  nothing  knowingly 
kept  back,  still,  as  the  soul  is  not  then,  at  least  usually, 
wholly  sanctified,  the  spirit  of  selfishness  soon  manifests 
itself,  in  setting  up  claims  in  opposition  to  God.  This  is  a 
point  of  peculiar  interest  and  importance  in  the  Christian's 
experience.  If  the  claims  of  self  are  now  uniformly  re- 
sisted, if  all  is  kept  upon  the  altar  of  consecration,  the 
young  convert  grows  rapidly  in  the  knowledge  and  expe- 
rience of  divine  things.  Advancing  from  one  degree  in 
grace  to  another,  he  soon  attains  to  "  the  stature  of  a  per- 
fect man  in  Christ  Jesus."  Gaining  strength  in  every  act 
of  self-denial,  he  becomes  "  strong  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the 
power  of  his  might."  Giving  up  his  heart  more  and  more 
fully  to  God,  God  fills  it,  until  he  is  "  filled  with  all  the  full- 
ness of  God."  The  candle  of  the  Lord  now  shines  brightly 
upon  him ;  and  he  is  enabled  to  "  rejoice  evermore,  pray 
without  ceasing,  and  in  everything  give  thanks."  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  claims  of  God  are  made  to  yield  to 
those  of  self,  the  young  Christian  immediately  suffers  in 
his  spiritual  interests,  and  in  a  short  time  entirely  back- 
slides. 

But  most  pursue  an  intermediate  course.  They  yield 
more  or  less  to  self,  while  they  maintain  a  general  pur- 
pose to  serve  God.  Some,  yielding  for  the  most  part  to  the 
claims  of  God,  become  deeply  pious.  Though  not  entirely 
dead  unto  sin,  they  are  ardently  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
religion.  In  a  great  measure  they  are  crucified  to  the 
world,  and  live  as  pilgrims  and  sojourners  on  earth.  To 
glorify  God,  do  good,  and  lay  up  treasure  in  heaven,  is 
with  them  the  chief  concern  of  life.  Others,  following  for 
the  most  part  their  selfish  inclinations,  have  but  little  of  the 
spirit  of  religion.  For  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation 
of  souls  they  feel  little  anxiety.  They  are  chiefly  occupied 
with  the  world.  They  buy,  and  sell,  and  get  gain,  not  so 
much  that  they  may  have  the  means  of  doing  good,  as  that 
they  may  increase  in  wealth.  They  give  but  Httle,  and 
that  grudgingly.  Their  joys  are  few,  and  their  faith  weak. 
Even  to  themselves  the  manifestations  of  an  inward, 
spiritual  life,  are  scarcely  discernible  ;  and,  from  the  world 
at  large,  they  could  hardly  be  distinguished  by  others, 
were  they  not  occasionally  seen  in  the  assembly  of  the 
righteous,  and  at  the  communion  table. 


VIII.]  CONSECRATION  TO  GOD.  ^  125 

That  the  difference  in  the  experience  of  Christians  is 
to  be  attributed,  in  part,  to  difference  of  views  or  feelings 
with  respect  to  the  relative  claims  of  religion  and  the 
world — of  God  and  self — there  can  be  no  doubt.  In  theory 
most  may  be  tolerably  correct :  the  difference  is  chiefly  in 
the  practical  sentiment,  or  application  of  the  rule.  Here 
many  err  greatly,  and  few,  perhaps,  are  entirely  free  from 
error.  What,  then,  is  the  extent  of  God's  claims,  or  what 
is  implied  in  entire  consecration  to  him?  (1.)  The  body 
must  be  consecrated  to  God.  All  its  powers  and  sus- 
ceptibilities are  to  be  entirely  at  his  disposal.  They  are 
to  be  developed  and  trained  for  his  service.  They  must 
be  exercised  or  restrained  according  to  his  will.  No  selfish 
indulgence  in  dress,  sleep,  or  any  of  the  appetites  injurious 
to  health,  is  compatible  with  entire  consecration;  while 
health,  and  even  life  itself,  must  be  cheerfully  sacrificed  at 
the  command  of  God.  He  who  to  preserve  his  health 
shrinks  from  the  discharge  of  known  duty,  or  to  save  his 
life  denies  his  Saviour,  shows  that  he  has  not  given  up  all 
to  the  Lord.  St.  Paul  counted  not  his  life  dear  unto  him, 
so  that  he  might  finish  his  course  with  joy,  and  the 
ministry  which  he  had  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
(2.)  God  claims  the  soul;  not  merely  the  religious  or 
devotional  sentiments,  but  all  its  powers.  The  will,  rea- 
son, imagination,  affections,  passions — all  should  be  conse- 
crated to  him.  Self  must  be  denied,  all  mental  gratification 
even,  which  does  not  tend  to  his  glory.  His  will  must  be  the 
supreme  law  for  the  regulation  of  the  thoughts  and  feelings. 
To  think  for  God,  to  feel  for  God,  and  to  speak  for  God,  is 
incumbent  on  all,  and  is  implied  in  the  sacrifice  enjoined 
in  the  text.  (3.)  Occupation  and  employment.  What 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  Where  do  it  ?  When  do  it  ? 
and  how  do  it  ?  I  come  to  do  thy  will,  0  God.  This  should 
be  the  language  of  every  one;  not  in  reference  merely 
to  what  may  be  strictly  called  religious  duties,  but  in 
reference  to  all  the  affairs  of  life.  For  whether  we  eat, 
or  drink,  or  whatsoever  we  do,  we  are  required  to  do  aU  to 
the  glory  of  God.  None  may  choose  his  own  profession,  or 
calling,  regardless  of  God's  will.  What  God  appoints  he 
must  do.  Where  God  directs,  there  he  must  go.  If  called 
to  the  ministry,  he  must  "  obey  the  voice  divine."  If  the 
providence  of  God  points  him  to  some  heathen  land  as  his 


126  CONSECRATION  TO  GOD.  [SEE. 

appropriate  field  of  labor,  thither  he  must  direct  his  steps. 
His  own  ease,  convenience,  pecuniary  interest  and  aggran- 
(dizement,  must  yield  to  the  claims  of  God.  "  For  none  of 
us  liveth  to  Jumself,  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself.*' 
(4.)  Property.  "  Honor  God  with  thy  substance,  and 
with  the  first-fruits  of  all  thine  increase,"  is  the  divine 
requirement.  And  it  is  most  reasonable,  for  "  the  earth  is 
the  Lord's,  and  the  fullness  thereof;"  the  gold  and  the 
silver  are  his,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills.  Man 
has  nothing  but  what  he  has  received.  He  is  but  the 
steward  of  God's  manifold  mercies.  What  has  been  in- 
trusted to  him,  he  is  to  hold  subject  to  the  disposal  of  Him 
who  is  the  giver  of  all.  Thus  we  are  to  bring  a  whole 
offering  unto  the  Lord.  From  his  inmost  soul,  should  each 
one  say  :— 

"  Take  my  soul  and  body's  powers ; 

Take  my  mein'ry,  mind,  and -will; 
All  my  goods,  and  all  my  hours, 

AU  I  know,  and  all  I  feel  j 
All  I  think,  or  speak,  or  do ; 
Take  my  heart,  but  make  it  new. 

"  Now,  my  God,  thine  own  I  am, 
Now  I  give  thee  back  thine  own ; 
Freedom,  friends,  and  health,  and  fame, 

Consecrate  to  thee  alone : 
•Thine  I  live,  thrice  happy  I ! 
Happier  still,  if  thine  I  die." 

But,  thirdly,  this  is  to  be  a  "  living  sacrifice"  It  was  not 
permitted  to  bring  a  dead  beast  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice 
at  the  temple.  This  was  strictly  forbidden.  It  must  be 
brought  alive.  In  the  former  part  of  this  epistle,  the 
apostle  exhorts  his  brethren  to  "  yield  themselves  to  God, 
as  those  who  are  alive  from  the  dead."  While  in  a  state 
of  nature,  man  is  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  and  until 
renewed  he  cannot  do  the  will  of  God ;  for  "  the  carnal 
mind  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can 
be."  The  heart  must  be  changed ;  old  things  must  pass 
away,  and  all  things  become  new,  before  man  can  serve 
God  acceptably.  To  suppose  that  God  will  accept  of 
any  service  which  does  not  spring  from  a  renewed  heart 
is  a  fatal  error.  He  expressly  declares  that  the  sacrifice 
of  the  wicked  is  an  abomination  to  him.     In  consecrating 


VIII.]  CONSECRATION    TO   GOD.  127 

ourselves  to  Glod,  therefore,  we  are  to  seek  for  the  renew- 
ing of  our  minds  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  That  we  may  serve 
him  in  newness  of  life,  it  is  necessary  that  we  experience 
a  spiritual  regeneration.  We  must  pass  from  death  unto 
life,  being  born  again,  not  of  the  flesh  but  of  the  Spirit ; 
putting  off  the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt  according  to  the 
deceitful  lusts ;  and  putting  on  the  new  man,  which,  after 
God,  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness.  This 
is  the  "  living  sacrifice"  which  we  are  to  offer,  and  which 
only  will  be  accepted. 

This  expression  also  implies  activity.  A  "  living  sacra- 
fice"  is  an  active  consecration.  And  this  is  what  the 
Bible  everywhere  enjoins.  The  Christian  is  called  to  a 
holy  activity  in  the  service  of  God.  He  is  represented  as 
a  laborer  in  a  vineyard ;  a  soldier  fighting  manfully ;  as 
one  running  a  race,  and  pressing  hard  toward  the  mark, 
that  he  may  win  the  prize.  This  is  not  his  rest.  While 
here,  he  is  to  labor  for  God,  cheerfully  doing  the  work 
assigned  him.  His  hands  should  never  hang  down,  nor  his 
arms  be  folded  in  slothful  inactivity.  The  song  of  the 
sluggard  he  should  never  sing ;  but,  with  a  burning  zeal 
for  God's  glory,  whatsoever  his  hand  findeth  to  do,  he 
should  do  with  his  might.  Nor  should  he  be  deceived 
by  any  supposed  necessity  for  inactivity,  or  retirement 
from  the  world  for  the  cultivation  of  personal  piety.  The 
graces  of  the  Spirit  are  best  cultivated  in  the  sphere  in 
which  God  in  his  providence  has  placed  us.  Man  was 
made  for  society,  and  in  society  he  can  the  most  success- 
fully develop  the  Christian  character.  While  discharging 
the  duties  he  owes  to  God  and  the  world,  he  may  be  grow- 
ing in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  True,  he 
needs  his  seasons  for  retirement,  but  these  will  be  afforded 
him  in  the  ordinary  providences  of  God,  without  his  retir- 
ing to  caves,  or  cloisters,  or  even  so  within  himself  as  to  be 
regardless  of  the  interests  of  those  around  him.  A  "quie- 
ism,"  which  excludes  proper  efforts  for  the  promotion  of 
the  general  interests  of  religion,  is  unfavorable  to  personal 
religion,  and  unauthorized  by  the  word  of  God. 

In  the  fourth  place,  it  is  required  that  the  sacrifice  be 
holy.  The  ceremonial  law  required  that  the  beast  to 
be  offered  should  be  "without  blemish."  This  typified, 
primarily,  the  immaculate  purity  of  Him  who  was  made  a 


128  CONSECRATION  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

sin-offering  for  the  sins  of  tlie  world.  But  it  is  alluded  to 
in  the  text,  to  teach  us  that  God  requires  truth  in  the  in- 
ward parts ;  that  to  serve  him  acceptably  the  heart  must 
be  right :  that  in  consecrating  ourselves  to  him  our  mo- 
tives must  be  pure ;  our  principles  of  action  according  to 
his  will. 

Or  allusion  may  be  made  to  the  impure  worship  offered  to 
some  of  the  heathen  deities.  Nothing  could  be  more  cor- 
rupting. The  worshiper  sunk  deeper  in  depravity  at 
every  act  of  devotion.  Many  of  those  whom  the  apos- 
tle was  addressing  had  worshiped  at  these  shrines  of 
pollution.  But  they  were  now  devoted  to  the  worship  and 
service  of  the  true  God ;  and,  in  their  devotions  to  him, 
no  impure  thought,  word,  or  action,  could  be  allowed.  He 
must  be  worshiped  in  the  beauty  of  holiness,  and  served  in 
righteousness. 

Lastly,  this  consecration  should  be  made  in  faith.  This 
is  necessary  to  render  it  "  acceptable  ;"  for  without  faith  it  is 
impossible  to  please  God.  The  sacrifices  of  the  Jewish  wor- 
ship were  typical.  The  slaughtered  victim  pointed  the  wor- 
shiper to  the  "  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world."  He,  understanding  the  nature  and  design  of 
these  sacrifices,  trusted  not  in  his  offering,  as  efficacious 
in  itself,  in  propitiating  the  divine  favor.  He  knew  that 
is  was  "  not  possible  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats  should 
take  away  sins,"  and  that  the  sacrifices  which  were  offered 
year  by  year,  continually,  could  not  make  the  comers  there- 
unto perfect.  He  offered  his  sacrifice,  therefore,  in  faith, 
looking  to  "  the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,"  which, 
in  due  time,  should  be  made  "  once  for  all."  So  must  the 
offering  up  of  ourselves  to  God  be  in  faith.  No  "  works 
of  righteousness,  which  we  have  done,"  will  render  our 
offering  acceptable.  Even  in  the  act  of  consecration,  how- 
ever full  it  may  have  been,  we  have  only  done  that  which 
it  was  our  duty  to  do.  For  anything  we  have  done,  or  can 
do,  God  might  cast  us  off  for  ever.  Our  only  hope  is  in 
his  mercy  in  Christ  Jesus.  But  if  with  unwavering  con- 
fidence we  rely  upon  that  mercy,  we  shall  be  accepted. 
God  will  receive  us  graciously.  He  will  adopt  us  into  his 
family,  and  send  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  our  hearts, 
crying,  Abba,  Father. 

Thus  are  we,  dear  heai'ers,  voluntarily,  and  without 


Vni.]  CONSECRATION  TO   GOD.  129 

reserve,  to  consecrate  ourselves  to  God ;  to  serve  him  in 
newness   of  life,  with   sincere   hearts,  relying  upon  the 
meritorious  death  of  Christ  as  our  only  ground  of  hope  for 
acceptance  with  him. 
Let  us  now  notice 

11.    The   REASONABLENESS   OF  THIS   CONSECRATION. 

And,  in  the  first  place,  I  remark,  that  it  is  reasonable, 
because  it  is  only  rendering  hack  to  God  what  properly  he- 
longs  to  him.  He  has  an  undoubted  right  to  our  services 
for  we  are  his,  and  not  our  own.  His  by  creation;  for 
"  he  hath  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves."  His  by  pre- 
servation; for  "in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being."  His  by  redemption ;  for  «  he  hath  bought  us  with  a 
price."  In  virtue  of  these  relations  God  claims  us  for  his 
own.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  the  mind  to  conceive  of 
claims  of  higher  authority.  Each  of  these  relations  gives 
him  an  absolute  right  over  us,  and  to  withhold  anything 
from  him  is  robbery  in  the  highest  degree.  Is  the  servant 
under  obligations  to  do  the  will  of  the  master,  or  the  child 
to  do  the  will  of  the  parent?  How  much  more  we  to  do 
the  will  of  God.  To  no  other  being  in  the  creation  can 
we  sustain  such  important  relations  as  we  do  to  him ;  and 
consequently  to  no  other  can  we  be  under  as  great  obliga- 
tions. Wliat  then  more  reasonable  than  that  we  should 
serve  him ;  that  we  present  to  him  «  our  bodies  a  living 
sacrifice,  holy  and  acceptable  ?" 

But  this  is  a  reasonable  service  also,  inasmuch  as  our 
own  happiness  requires  it.  The  constitution  of  our  nature 
is  such,  that  we  cannot  be  truly  happy  while  rebelling 
against  God.  He  has  set  evil  over  against  transgression : 
"  Wo  unto  the  wicked,"  is  the  unalterable  decree,  "  it  shall 
be  ill  with  him ;  for  the  reward  of  his  hands  shall  be 
given  him."  Misery  and  sin  are  thus  inseparably  con- 
nected. As  well  might  one  think  to  take  fire  into  his 
bosom,  or  walk  upon  hot  coals  and  not  be  burned,  as  to 
continue  in  sin,  and  not  suffer  the  evil  consequences. 
There  can  be  no  abiding  peace  to  the  wicked — no  satis- 
fying joy-  They  may  drink  long  and  deep  at  the  sparkling 
stream  of  sinful  pleasure,  and  for  a  time  count  themselves 
happy,  but  "  at  the  last  itbiteth  like  a  serpent,  and  stingeth 
like  an  adder."  Their  sweetest  pleasures  are  turned  into 
wormwood  and  gall :  "  For  m  the  hand  of  the  Lord  there 
6* 


130  CONSECRATION  TO    GOD.  [SER. 

is  a  cup,  and  the  wine  is  red ;  it  is  full  of  mixture,  and  he 
poureth  out  of  the  same ;  but  the  dregs  thereof,  all  the 
Tsyicked  of  the  earth  shall  ring  them  out,  and  drink  them." 
JBut  "destruction  stops  not  here — sin  kills  beyond  the 
tomb."  "  The  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell,"  and  upoq 
them  the  Lord  "  shall  rain  snares,  fire  and  brimstone,  and 
a  horrible  tempest;  this  shaU  be  the  portion  of  their  cup" 
for  ever.  But  if  the  sinner  turn  from  his  evil  way  he 
shall  live.  Heaven  waits  to  be  gracious.  He  who  with 
unfeigned  repentance  forsakes  his  sins,  and  in  the  exercise 
of  a  living  faith  consecrates  himself  to  God,  shall  find 
mercy.  And,  accepted  in  the  Beloved,  he  shall  taste  and 
see  that  the  Lord  is  good.  Continuing  to  walk  obediently 
in  God's  ordinances  and  commandments,  he  shall  "  eat  the 
good  of  the  land."  His  will  be  a  peace  that  passeth  un- 
derstanding, and  a  joy  that  is  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 
Assured  that  all  things  shall  work  together  for  his  good, 
he  fears  no  evil.  Sustained  and  cheered  by  a  good  hope, 
through  grace,  he  goes  on  his  way  rejoicing ;  and  when 
called  at  last  to  pass  the  Jordan  of  death,  with  his  foot 
upon  the  neck  of  his  last  enemy,  he  shouts  victory !  and 
ascends  to  the  paradise  of  God,  there  eternally  to  dwell 
amid  the  resplendent  glories  of  the  heavenly  state.  So 
true  is  it,  that  our  happiness  here  and  hereafter  depends 
upon  the  performance  of  the  duty  enjoined  in  the  text. 

Again,  consecration  to  God  is  reasonable,  because  upon 
it  depends  our  usefulness  in  the  world.  It  is  our  duty  to 
do  good  to  all  as  we  have  opportunity.  We  are  not  to 
look  every  man  on  his  own  things  only,  but  also  on  the 
things  of  others.  Their  interests  are  to  be  regarded,  and 
their  well-being  sought.  The  relations  we  sustain  make 
this  the  imperative  duty  of  all.  And  such  is  the  connec- 
tion which  links  us  one  to  the  other,  that,  of  necessity,  we 
are  continually  exerting  an  influence,  for  good  or  for  evil, 
upon  those  among  whom  we  move.  We  cannot  wholly  insu- 
late ourselves  in  society  if  we  would,  nor  determine  the  limit 
of  our  influence.  Now,  the  happiness  of  others,  like  our 
own,  depends  upon  submission  to  God.  If  they  continue 
in  rebellion,  they  must  perish.  The  vials  of  God's  wrath 
will  be  poured  out  upon  them.  But  if  they  turn  to  God, 
they  will  secure  his  favor  and  eternal  life.  ^Vliether  they 
do  so  or  not  will  depend,  in  part  at  least,  upon  the  influ- 


VIII.]  CONSECRATION  TO  GOD.  131 

ence  we  exert  over  them.  We  may  be  unwilling  to  bear 
this  responsibility ;  but  it  cannot  be  thrown  off.  We  may 
disclaim  any  wish  or  intention  to  injure  them ;  we  may 
even  advise  them  not  to  follow  our  example :  but  our 
actions  will  speak  louder  than  our  words  ;  and  so  long  as 
we  continue  in  sin,  we  shall  be  instrumental  in  confirming 
them  in  their  impenitency.  It  is  a  fearful  fact,  that  men 
do  not  go  single  handed  in  the  way  to  death.  Hand  is 
joined  to  hand.  Sinners  lead  each  other  down  the 
steeps  of  perdition.  The  parent  leads  the  child  ;  the  hus- 
band the  wife,  and  the  wife  the  husband ;  friend  leads 
friend,  and  neighbor,  neighbor. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  who  consecrates  himself  to  the 
service  of  God,  exerts  an  influence  which  tends  to  lead 
others  to  Christ.  How  many  children  owe  their  conver- 
sion, under  God,  to  the  influence  of  parental  example ! 
How  often  has  the  Christian  temper  and  manly  piety  of 
the  husband  led  the  unbelieving  wife  to  the  foot  of  the 
cross,  or  the  consistent  life  and  pious  conversation  of  the 
wife  won  the  ungodly  husband !  And  so  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life.  If  devoted  to  God,  our  influence  will  be 
salutary ;  if  not,  it  must  be  evil.  True,  we  may  do  much 
for  the  temporal  interests  of  those  around  us,  though  un- 
converted ;  but  what  is  that,  so  long  as  our  example  tends 
to.  drown  their  souls  in  perdition  ?  How  reasonable,  then, 
is  this  service  !  It  is  but  discharging  a  duty  all  owe  to  God, 
themselves,  and  the  world.  And  who  will  withhold  it? 
Who  will  act  so  unreasonable  a  part  ?  The  poet  represents 
the  lost  as  ever  exclaiming,  "  We  knew  our  duty,  but  we 
did  it  not."  O  bitter  ingredient  in  the  cup  of  wo !  Are 
there  any  here  who  are  thus  trifling  with  the  claims  of 
God  and  their  own  interests  ?  If  so,  I  beseech  you  give 
me  your  serious  attention,  while  I  endeavor — not  to  alarm 
you  by  the  terrors  of  the  law,  though  you  may  well  tremble 
in  view  of  your  danger — but  to 

HI.    Enforce  the  duty  of  consecration  to  God 

FROM  A  VIEW  OF  HIS  MERCIES. 

And,  first,  I  address  myself  to  the  careless  sinner.  You 
refuse  to  serve  God.  He  calls,  but  you  will  not  hear ;  he 
stretches  out  his  hand,  but  you  will  not  regard  it ;  you  set 
at  naught  all  his  counsels,  and  refuse  to  turn  at  his  re- 
proof.    Practically  you  are  saying,  "  What  is  the  Almighty 


132  CONSECRATION  TO   GOD.  [SEE. 

that  we  should  serve  him,  and  what  profit  should  we  have 
if  we  pray  unto  him  ?"  And  who  is  he  whom  you  so  ob- 
stinately refuse  to  obey — to  whose  authority  you  will  not 
submit  ?  What  is  his  character  ?  Is  he  cruel  and  impla- 
cable ?  And  how  has  he  treated  you  ?  Has  he  withheld  all 
good,  and  conferred  only  evil  ?  O  no  !  he  is  the  God  of  love, 
and  he  has  done  you  good,  and  not  evil,  all  your  days. 
From  liim  you  have  received  existence,  and  everything 
that  renders  existence  desirable.  All  the  blessings  of  life 
which  you  enjoy  are  the  gift  of  his  hand.  The  air  you 
breathe,  the  water  you  drink,  the  food  you  eat,  the  clothing 
you  wear,  your  "friends  and  safe  abode;"  for  all  these, 
and  everi/  temporal  good,  you  are  indebted  to  Him,  whom 
you  most  unreasonably  refuse  to  serve.  This  is  not  all ; 
it  is  comparatively  nothing.  He  has  not  withheld  his  Son, 
his  only-begotten,  his  well-beloved  Son,  but  has  given  him 
to  die  for  ^ou.  O  matchless  love !  0  condescending  grace ! 
And  1/et  you  rebel  against  him  ;  and  yet  he  spares  you. 
You  reject  his  mercy,  and  he  waits  to  be  gracious  still. 
You  abuse  his  goodness,  and  he  continues  to  pour  upon  you 
blessings  more  than  you  can  number.  O  sinner,  can  you 
longer  resist  his  grace  ?  Shall  not  his  goodness  lead  you 
to  repentance  ?  Will  you  live  upon  his  bounties,  and  still 
live  but  to  sin  against  him  ?  By  his  great  mercy  to  you, 
I  beseech  you  cease  your  rebellion — give  yourself  to  him 
in  a  perpetual  covenant,  never  to  be  forgotten. 

"  Bow  to  tlic  sceptre  of  his  word, 

lienouncing  every  sin  ; 
•    Submit  to  him,  your  gracious  Lord, 
And  learn  his  will  divine." 

I  would  next  address  the  halting  sinner.  You  acknow- 
ledge God's  claims  upon  you.  You  know  and  feel  that  it 
is  your  duty  to  serve  him.  Almost  persuaded  to  be  a 
Christian,  and  yet  you  hesitate.  In  your  breast  a  mighty 
conflict  is  going  on  between  the  powers  of  light  and 
darkness,  and  with  you  is  the  fearful  responsibility  of 
determining  which  shall  prevail.  If  you  yield  to  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  wicked  one,  he  will  lead  you  captive  at  his 
will ;  but  if  you  yield  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  he  will  lead 
you  into  paths  of  righteousness  and  salvation.  And  why 
should  you  hesitate  ?    Can  you  think  of  continuing  a  slave 


VIII.]  CONSECRATION  TO   GOD.  133 

of  the  devil,  who  in  the  malevolence  of  his  heart  desires 
to  make  you  miserable  for  ever — to  drag  you  down  to  the 
regions  of  endless  wo,  and  there  to  vex  and  torment  you 
eternally  ?  O  will  you  not  rather  trust  yourself  in  the 
hands  of  your  merciful  Creator?  He  promises  the  rich 
consolation  of  his  grace  here,  and  eternal  life  hereafter. 
Why  not  yield  this  very  hour  ?  Why  not  decide  the  doubt- 
ful question  even  now  2  Think  of  God's  mercy  toward 
you.  How  has  he  surrounded  you  with  blessings  !  How 
has  his  Spirit  always  been  striving  with  you  !  And  though 
you  have  often  quenched  his  influences,  and  driven  him 
from  your  heart,  yet  has  he  returned  again  and  again. 
And  now  once  more  he  comes  and  convinces  you  of  sin, 
of  righteousness,  and  of  a  judgment  to  come.  He  presses 
upon  you  the  offers  of  salvation.  It  would  seem  as  if  God, 
by  his  long-suffering  and  forbearing  mercy  toward  you, 
was  saying,  "  How  shall  I  give  thee  up  ?"  O,  by  this  ex- 
hibition of  his  mercy,  I  beseech  you  resist  his  grace  no 
longer.     With  a  relenting  heart  cry  out, — 

"  I  yield,  I  yield, 

I  can  hold  out  no  more ; 
I  sink,  by  dying  love  compell'd, 
And  o^^^l  thee  conqueror." 

And  is  there  a  true  penitent  here — a  sincere  seeker  of 
religion  ?  And  what  hinders  you  from  bringing  your 
sacrifice  and  laying  it  upon  the  altar  ?  Does  unbelief  sug- 
gest that  the  offering  will  not  be  accepted?  that  God's 
mercy  cannot  reach  your  case  ?  Then  come  and  stand 
awhile  with  me  beneath  the  cross.  There  hangs  God's 
only  Son.  Behold  his  hands,  his  feet,  his  pierced  side ! 
See  how  his  enemies  mock  and  revile  him !  Read  the  agony 
of  his  soul  in  his  groans  and  sighs,  and  in  the  bitter  excla- 
mation, "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?" 
Why  all  this  suffering  ?  What  means  that  streaming  blood, 
that  agonizing  groan  ?  Penitent  sinner,  he  suffers  this  for 
thee.  In  his  own  body  he  is  bearing  thy  sins.  Upon  him 
is  tkine  iniquity  laid.  Douht  no  more.  Fall  into  the  hands 
of  God,  trusting  in  his  mercy,  and  "  though  your  sins  be 
as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be 
red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool." 

But  what  shall  I  say  to  the  unconverted  professor  and 
dead  hachslider,  who  are  trying  to  serve  God  and  Mam- 


134  CONSECRATION  tO  GOD.  [SER. 

mon  ?  Remember  that  God  cannot  be  deceived,  and  that 
he  will  not  be  mocked.  He  requires  a  "  living  sacrifice," 
and  you  are  presumptuously  olFering  him  a  lifeless  one. 
Your  cold  and  heartless  service  is  but  a  vain  oblation, 
which  he  abhors.  You  are  insulting  him  to  his  face,  and 
yet  his  wrath  delays.  For  you  then,  even,  there  is  hope. 
His  mercy  is  not  "  clean  gone  for  ever."  By  that  mercy, 
I  beseech  you,  repent,  and  give  your  hearts  to  God.  Seek 
earnestly  his  converting  grace,  that  you  may  serve  him  in 
ncAvness  of  life,  and  serve  him  acceptably. 

And  now,  beloved  brethren,  I  beseech  yoti,  suffer  the 
word  of  exhortation.  You  have  already  presented  your- 
selves as  a  sacrifice  to  God,  and  have,  I  trust,  found 
acceptance  with  him.  But  permit  me  to  inquire  whether 
you  have  made  an  entire  offering,  and  Avhether  all  is  now 
upon  the  altar  ?  Are  you  living  wholly  unto  the  Lord  ? 
Do  you  regard  yourselves,  and  all  you  have,  as  his ;  and 
do  you  hold  all  entirely  at  his  disposal  ?  Are  you  ready 
to  go  and  labor  in  any  domestic  and  foreign  field  to  which 
he  may  call  you  ?  Or  should  your  children  be  called, 
could  you  cheerfully  give  them  up  ?  Are  you  prepared 
to  lay  even  your  Isaac,  your  only  son,  whom  you  love, 
upon  the  missionary  altar  ?  And  is  it  in  your  heart  to  give 
freely  of  your  substance,  as  the  Lord  has  need  of  it  ?  Alas  ! 
how  often  when  flocks  and  herds  multiply,  and  silver  and 
gold  are  increased,  is  the  heart  lifted  up,  and  God,  who 
giveth  power  to  get  wealth,  forgotten !  "  My  power,  and 
the  might  of  my  hand,  hath  gotten  me  this  wealth  ;"  and 
"  is  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  mine  own  ?" 
is,  I  fear,  the  sentiment,  if  not  the  very  language,  of  too 
many  who  profess  to  be  Christians.  The  love  of  wealth 
is  the  crjdng  sin  of  the  church.  Brethren,  beware.  Re- 
member that  your  property  is  a  talent  from  the  Lord.  It 
is  his,  and  not  your  OAvn.  You  are  permitted  to  occupy 
until  the  Master  comes  ;  but  if  you  would  escape  the 
charge  of  having  squandered  his  substance,  you  must  re- 
gard his  will  in  its  use.  But  in  your  case,  your  possessions 
are  his  also  by  sacrifice.  You  profess  to  have  laid  all 
upon  his  altar.  See  that  you  do  not  add  to  the  sin  of  rob- 
bery that  of  sacrilege.  And  is  there  no  idol  which  you 
serve?  Do  you  make  7io  reservation  for  self?  Are  you 
constantly  acting  under  the  sentiment,  all  for  God? 


VIII.]  CONSECRATION  TO  GOD.  135 

And  are  you  offering  God  a  "  living  sacrifice  ?"  Are 
you  actively  engaged  in  doing  his  will  ?  There  is  always 
enough  to  be  done.  In  addition  to  the  work  of  personal 
salvation,  the  poor  are  to  be  relieved;  the  sick  and  those 
in  prison  are  to  be  visited,  and  the  fatherless  and  widows 
in  their  afflictions ;  the  ignorant  are  to  be  instructed,  the 
careless  warned,  the  penitent  pointed  to  Christ,  and  be- 
lievers encouraged  and  built  up.  But  at  the  present  time 
there  appears  to  be  a  special  call  for  Christian  effort. 
With  reference  to  our  own  country,  we  may  truly  say,  "  a 
great  door,  and  effectual,  is  opened,"  for  the  spread  of 
evangelical  religion ;  but  it  is  also  true  that  "  there  are 
many  adversaries."  Political  excitement,  inordinate  love 
of  distinction,  and  thirst  for  wealth,  are  serious  obstacles 
to  the  extension  of  true  piety.  Catholicism  is  beginning 
to  exert  a  mighty  influence  in  opposition  to  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints.  Infidelity,  having  stolen  "  the 
livery  of  heaven  to  serve  the  devil  in,"  is  creeping,  like 
"  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing,"  among  the  folds,  seeking  to 
devour. 

But  the  call  for  Christian  effort  comes  up  from  other 
lands.  There  is  a  movement  favorable  to  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  among  the  nations ;  silent  it  may  be,  but 
extensive.  The  increasing  facilities  in  traveling  and  com- 
mercial intercourse  are  bringing  distant  nations  into  almost 
immediate  contact ;  the  light  of  science  is  extending  ;  the 
heathen,  by  millions,  are  renouncing  idolatry,  and,  unless 
speedily  instructed  in  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  will  settle 
down  into  a  blind  infidelity,  or  be  beguiled  into  a  false 
faith  and  corrupt  worship  by  emissaries  of  the  Roman 
Church.  What,  however,  is  being  done  to  meet  these 
calls  ?  Much,  compared  with  former  efforts,  and  enough 
to  show  that  it  is  a  work  especially  owned  and  blessed  of 
God ;  but  little  compared  with  what  should  be.  What 
might  not  the  church  accomplish,  by  the  blessing  of 
Heaven,  were  all  her  resources  consecrated  to  the  work  of 
filling  the  earth  with  the  knowledge  of  God  ?  And  what 
an  enterprise  !  How  should  every  Christian's  heart  beat 
with  a  high  and  holy  purpose  to  aid  in  carrying  it  forward  ; 
and,  yet,  how  many  appear  to  feel  little  or  no  interest  in 
the  subject!  The  Macedonian  cry,  as  it  comes  up  from 
all  parts  of  the  earth,  is  waxing  louder  and  louder ;  but, 


136  CONSECRATION  TO  GOD.  [SER. 

alas !  upon  how  many  ears  does  it  fall  almost  as  deaf  as 
the  leaden  ear  of  death !  Have  the  lovers  of  Jesus  for- 
gotten his  last  command,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  my  gospel  to  every  creature  ?"  If  not,  why  are  so 
few  heard  saying,  "  Here  am  I ;  send  me  ;"  or.  Here  is 
my  property,  use  it  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  ?  It  is 
for  the  want  of  the  spirit  of  entire  and  active  consecration 
to  God.  This  spirit  must  become  more  general  in  the  church 
before  the  world  is  converted.  But,  brethren,  I  would 
hope  better  things  of  you,  though  I  thus  speak.  And  yet 
I  would  say  to  all,  examine  yourselves  ;  consider  the  extent 
of  God's  claims  and  of  your  obligations.  See  if  you  are 
meeting  them  fully.  And  should  you,  upon  careful  ex- 
amination, find  that  you  are  offering  God  but  a  partial 
sacrifice,  I  beseech  you,  by  his  great  mercy  toward  you, 
bring  all  this  very  hour  and  lay  it  at  the  Saviour's  feet. 
Freely  have  you  received — freely  give. 

One  thought  more,  and  I  close.  Many  of  you  have  long 
been  praying  for  the  blessing  of  a  clean  heart,  or  perfect 
love.  But  as  yet  your  prayers  have  not  been  fully 
answered.  You  are  still  crying,  "  Who  shall  deliver  me 
from  the  body  of  this  death?"  You  wonder,  perhaps,  why 
the  desire  of  your  heart  is  not  granted  you.  May  you  not 
have  failed  in  presenting  your  offering?  Have  you  not 
brought  the  halt,  or  maimed,  to  the  altar,  or  kept  back 
some  part  of  what  belongs  to  the  Lord  ?  Have  you  not 
yielded  at  some  point  to  the  claims  of  self?  True,  the 
blessing  of  sanctification,  as  well  as  of  justification,  is  re- 
ceived by  faith  alone.  But  faith  always  supposes  repent- 
ance, and  true  repentance  implies  consecration.  May  not 
the  weakness  of  your  faith  be  attributed,  in  part  at  least, 
to  the  imperfection  of  your  repentance  ?  Bring,  then,  a 
whole  offering  unto  the  Lord,  and  prove  him  herewith,  and 
see  "  if  he  will  not  open  you  the  windows  of  heaven,  and 
pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall  not  be  room 
enough  to  receive  it."  "  Bind  the  sacrifice  with  cords, 
even  unto  the  horns  of  the  altar,"  and  look  for  the  fire  of 
God's  love  to  descend  and  consume  it,  making  an  end  of 
self-will,  and  "  bringing  into  captivity  every  thought  to  the 
obedience  of  Christ." 

And  now  unto  Him  whose  we  are,  and  whom  we  serve, 
be  praise  for  ever.    Amen. 


IX.J  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  137 

SERMON  IX. 
Christian  Perfection. 

BY    REV.    NOAH    LEVINGS,    D.  D., 

FINANCIAL  SECRETARY  OF   THE   AMERICAN   BIBLE   SOCIETY. 

"  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  youi*  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is 
perfect." — Matt,  v,  48. 

These,  my  brethren,  are  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  in 
his  justly  celebrated  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  His  previous 
discourses  and  miracles,  together  with  the  sanctity  of  his 
personal  character,  had  so  interested  the  public  mind,  that 
multitudes  from  all  parts  flocked  around  him  to  hear  the 
words  of  eternal  life.  Seeing  these  multitudes  as  sheep 
without  a  shepherd,  and  feeling  his  bowels  of  compassion 
melt  in  love  toward  them,  he  ascended  a  mountain — the 
better  to  be  seen  and  heard  by  them  all — and  there  de- 
livered the  sermon  comprised  in  the  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh 
chapters  of  this  Gospel.  The  words  of  the  text  form  the 
conclusion  of  what  he  had  said  in  the  fifth  chapter,  and 
contain  the  practical  improvement  of  the  first  part  of  this 
incomparable  sermon.  Viewed  in  this  light,  the  solemn 
command  contained  in  the  text  stands  intimately  connected 
with  every  part  of  the  preceding  discourse ;  and  clearly 
shows  that  perfection  in  the  Christian  character  was  the 
grand  end  of  all  these  divine  communications.  The  pat- 
tern of  this  perfection,  showed  us  in  the  mount,  was  the 
divine  character  itself.  "Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  God  is  the  inexhaust- 
ible fountain  of  all  desirable  goodness  and  adorable  per- 
fections. To  be  perfect,  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  per- 
fect, is  indeed  impossible  as  to  quality  or  extent,  but  not 
as  to  imitation.  As  God  is  perfect  in  all  the  qualities  of 
his  nature,  and  in  all  his  adorable  attributes ;  so  we,  as  the 
subjects  of  redeeming  and  saving  mercy,  may  be  so  "re- 
newed in  righteousness  and  true  holiness,"  as  to  bear  a 
striking  resemblance  to  him  in  moral  and  spiritual  perfec- 
tion. As  far  as  we  can  discover,  it  would  have  been  in- 
consistent for  God  to  have  required  anytliing  short  of  this. 


138  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

Accordingly  he  says,  "  Ye  shall  be  lioly :  for  I  the  Lord 
your  God  am  holy."  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
might."  To  which  we  may  add  the  language  of  the  text — 
"  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is  in 
heaven  is  perfect."  These  claims  of  God  are  holy,  just, 
and  good. 

But  to  have  required  this  state  of  perfection  of  the  pos- 
terity of  Adam,  while  they  bore  no  active  part  in  producing 
the  fallen  condition  of  the  race,  without  making  provision 
for  their  restoration  to  the  lost  favor  and  image  of  God — 
though  it  might  have  been  just,  as  the  law  is  unchangeable 
— yet  it  would  have  been  unavailing  in  our  behalf;  for,  by 
the  fall,  we  not  only  lost  all  disposition^  but  also  all  poiver, 
to  do  that  which  is  pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God.  This 
was  our  state  by  the  fall.  "  But  after  that  the  kindness 
and  love  of  God  our  Saviour  toward  man  appeared,  not  by 
works  of  righteousness  which  we  have  done,  but  according 
to  his  mercy,  he  saved  us  by  the  Avashing  of  regeneration 
and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

If  we  consider  fallen  man  abstractly  from  the  great 
atonement,  and  from  all  the  jDrovisions  of  the  gospel ;  or 
under  this  great  economy,  but  in  an  unreconciled  state,  we 
may  well  say,  that  "  there  is  no  man  that  liveth  and  sinneth 
not ;"  "  that  if  we  say  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves, 
and  the  truth  is  not  in  us ;"  or,  "  if  we  say  that  we  have 
not  sinned,  we  make  him  a  liar,  and  his  word  is  not  in  us." 
But  in  view  of  this  great  provision — the  all-atoning  sacri- 
fice— we  are  informed  that  "  if  Ave  confess  our  sins,  he  is 
faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us 
from  all  unrighteousness ^  It  is  in  view  of  this  great  pro- 
vision of  the  gospel  that  we  are  commanded  to  "  cleanse 
ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  perfect- 
ing holiness  in  the  fear  of  God." 

Notwithstanding  the  Scriptures  everywhere  abound  with 
this  important  doctrine,  yet  very  diverse  are  the  vicAvs 
of  Christians  as  to  the  nature  and  attainableness  of  entire 
sanctification  in  the  present  life.  But  inasmuch  as  "  Avith- 
out  holmess  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord;"  and  as  holiness 
of  heart  and  life  stands  intimately  connected  with  the  glory 
of  God,  our  present  peace  and  usefulness,  as  well  as  with 
our  eternal  state,  should  we  not  be  well  satisfied  as  to  ihQ 


IX.J  CHRISTIAN  PERPEGTIO^^.  13^ 

nature  and  truth  of  this  important  doctrine  ?  And  above 
all,  should  we  not  be  well  assured  of  a  personal  interest  in 
this  great  salvation  ?     Let  us,  then,  consider — 

I.  The  nature  and  extent  of  the  perfection 

REQUIRED  OF  US  IN  THE  WORD  OF  GOD,  AND  OFFER 
SOME   PROOFS   OF  THE  TRUTH  OF  THE  DOCTRINE.      And 

II.  Point   out  the  way  by  which   this    great 

BLESSING  MAY  BE   OBTAINED. 

I.  Its  nature,  extent,  S^c. 

The  term  perfect  signifies  "finished;  complete;  not  de- 
fective; having  all  that  is  requisite  to  its  nature  and  kind; 
complete  in  moral  excellences."  But  the  term,  in  the 
evangelical  sense,  is  used  to  express  that  matured  state  of 
personal  holiness  which  God  requires  of  us,  and  which  the 
gospel  promises  to  us.  This  state,  in  the  Scriptures,  is 
denominated  the  being  "  sanctified  thoughout,  spirit,  soul, 
and  body ;"  and  being  "  preserved  blameless  unto  the  com- 
ing of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  "  the  being  "  perfected  in 
love ;"  the  being  "  perfect,  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  per- 
fect." But  we  are  not  to  understand  by  this  the  perfec- 
tion of  Adam  in  para  lise.  That  degree  of  perfection  en- 
joyed and  exercised  by  man  prior  to  the  introduction  of 
sin  to  our  world,  cannot  be  attained  by  any  of  his  fallen 
posterity  in  the  present  life. 

But  if  our  moral  natures  may  be  so  "  renewed  after  the 
image  of  Him  that  created  us,"  as  to  be  "  sanctified  through- 
out, spirit,  soul,  and  body,  and  be  preserved  blameless  unto 
the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  why,  it  may  be  de- 
manded, may  we  not  expect  to  be  made  as  perfect  in  all 
respects  in  this  life  as  Adam  was  in  paradise  ?  We  an- 
swer, for  the  following  reasons : — The  fall  entailed  upon  the 
posterity  of  Adam  certain  disabilities,  which  it  does  not 
please  God  to  remove  when  we  are  renewed  in  righteous- 
ness and  true  holiness.  Some  of  these  disabilities  are 
mental;  as  ignorance,  weakness,  and  error  of  judgment. 
These,  in  many  respects,  and  in  relation  to  many  things, 
are  not  entirely  removed  in  the  present  life,  even  in  the 
most  holy  persons.  Others  of  these  disabilities  are  physi- 
cal :  such  as  weakness,  disease,  decay,  and  death  of  the 
body.  These  dreadful  evidences  of  the  original  curse  re- 
main, and  have  been  exemplified  in  the  painful  experience 
ef  the  most  holy  men  who  have  ever  lived  upon  the  earth: 


140  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

and  althougla  a  perfect  deliverance  from  all  these  is  secured, 
prospectively,  by  a  future  and  glorious  resurrection  from 
the  dead,  yet  in  these  respects,  even  if  saved  from  all  sin, 
we  must,  during  tliis  life,  fall  far  short  of  the  perfection  of 
paradise.  To  these  were  we  to  add  a  long  catalogue  of 
moral  defects,  in  thought,  word,  and  deed,  it  would  only 
be  what  exists  in  fact  with  the  great  proportion  of  profess- 
ing Christians.  But,  in  these  remarks,  it  is  not  so  much 
our  duty  to  set  forth  what  is  in  fact  the  moral  condition  of 
professing  Christians,  as  to  exhibit  what,  in  the  word  of 
God,  we  are  commanded  to  be ;  and  what,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  we  may  be.  And,  least  of  all,  are  we  permitted  to 
hold  up  the  dwarfish  and  imperfect  experience  of  the 
great  body  of  professors,  as  the  evidence  of  the  Bible  doc- 
trine on  this  great  subject.  The  question,  then,  returns 
upon  us — and  which  we  come  now  to  consider — Wliat  is  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  perfection  taught  in  the  word  of 
God  as  the  privilege  of  his  people  ? 

It  is  a  perfect  deliverance  from  the  guilt  of  sin.  Every 
act  of  God  is  perfect,  whether  it  regard  any  work  of  his  as 
a  whole,  or  in  its  progressive  degrees.  Hence  pardon  of 
sin  is  a  perfect  work  in  its  kind  and  degree.  Whenever 
God  absolves  a  sinner  from  his  sins,  and  reconciles  him  to 
himself,  they  are  all  pardoned  and  removed  as  far  from  liim 
as  the  east  is  from  the  west.  But  when  we  say  all  sin,  we 
mean  all  past  sin ;  for  it  cannot  be  rationally  supposed 
that  any  sin  which  a  man  may  commit  subsequently  to  his 
conversion,  is  at  all  involved  in  the  question  of  his  justifi- 
cation. Hence  Jesus  Christ  is  set  forth  "a  propitiation 
through  faith  in  his  blood,  to  declare  his  righteousness 
for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past.''  We  mention 
this  important  and  early  step  in  the  progress  of  human 
salvation  in  connection  with  this  subject,  not  only  be- 
cause it  is  in  itself  a  perfect  work,  but  also  because  of 
its  important  bearing  upon  every  succeeding  step  of  this 
salvation. 

Inseparably  connected  with  this,  as  to  time,  is  that  glo- 
rious manifestation  of  God  to  the  soul  of  the  pardoned  sin- 
ner, which,  at  the  same  time  that  it  witnesses  and  seals  his 
pardon,  so  changes  the  moral  dispositions  of  his  heart  as 
to  constitute  him  a  "  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus."  The 
love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  his  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost 


IX.]  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  141 

given  unto  him.  This  work  is  also  perfect  in  its  degree. 
The  will,  for  the  time  being,  is  wholly  subjected  to  the  will 
of  God.  The  affections  being  thus  changed  in  their  moral 
nature,  are  also  changed  in  their  direction,  and  are  now 
wholly  placed  on  things  above.  The  passions,  for  the 
time  being,  are  wholly  under  the  control  of  this  gracious 
influence,  so  that  the  individual  feels,  for  a  time,  nothing 
contrary  to  love  either  toward  God  or  any  man.  To  one 
in  this  state  of  mind,  everything  in  the  moral  kingdom 
appears  new  and  beautiful.  God,  the  law  of  God,  the 
gospel  of  God,  the  people  of  God,  the  service  of  God ; 
all  are  new  and  glorious.  This  is  the  blade,  and  it  is  a 
perfect  blade ;  nay,  it  is  the  ear ;  but  not  the  "/wZZ  corn  in 
the  ear."  This  is  a  "  babe  in  Christ,"  and  a  perfect  babe 
in  Christ :  but  not  the  "  fullness  of  the  stature  of  a  perfect 
man  in  Christ."  This  is  justification  by  faith,  and  the 
witness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  that  such  a  change  in  our  rela- 
tions to  God  and  his  law  has  taken  place ;  and  many  are 
the  blessed  fruits  which  follow  this  great  work.  This  im- 
portant work  has  often  been  confounded  with  entire  sanc- 
tification;  and  not  unfrequently  mistaken  for  that  great 
work  itself.  But  although  it  partakes  of  its  nature,  yet  it 
is  only  as  a  child  partakes  of  the  nature  of  a  man,  but  re- 
mains a  child  still.  But  Avhat  further  than  this,  it  may  be 
asked,  may  we  look  for  in  the  present  life  ?  Blessed  be 
God,  we  may  look  for  the  full  growth  and  maturity  of 
every  Christian  grace.  "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect."  Let  us  notice 
in  a  few  particulars. 

First.  This  state  of  Christian  perfection  consists  in  a 
matured  faith,  such  a  faith  in  the  truth  of  God's  word  as 
admits  of  no  doubt ;  such  a  faith  in  the  promises  of  God 
as  staggers  not  through  unbelief,  but  is  strong,  giving 
glory  to  God ;  such  a  faith  as  relies  upon  the  atoning 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  as  the  only  consideration  on  account  of 
which  salvation  may  be  expected  or  asked  for ;  such  a 
faith  as  not  only  embraces  the  promises,  but  claims  and  re- 
ceives the  fulfillment  of  them  in  the  present  salvation  of 
the  soul ;  such  a  faith  as  not  only  rests  satisfied  that  the 
dispensations  of  divine  Providence  are  all  right,  but  one 
that  enables  its  possessor  to  dismiss  all  anxious  care  con- 
cerning the  future.     With  this  faith  firmly  fixed  in  the 


142  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

soul,  even  in  view  of  death  itself,  tliere  is  no  distressing 
anxiety.  At  the  hour  of  justification  this  principle  is  in 
exercise,  but  is  then  like  the  trembling  hand  of  the  beggar 
stretched  forth  to  receive  a  donation ;  but  in  its  matured 
state,  it  is  the  strong  hand  of  confidence  that  lays  hold  on 
eternal  life  ;  and  is  our  victory  that  overcometh  the  world. 
It  is  that  matured  spiritual  vision,  which  sees  every 
spiritual  object  within  its  range  distinctly,  and  is  the  satis- 
fiictory  evidence  of  things  not  seen  by  mortal  eye.  In  a 
word,  it  is  that  faith  which  works  by  love  and  purifies  the 
heart. 

Secondly.  It  is  the  perfection  of  our  love  to  God  and 
all  mankind. 

There  are  two  important  branches  to  the  work  of  per- 
fecting the  soul  in  Christian  experience.  The  first  consists 
in  the  removal  of  all  guilt  and  moral  pollution,  by  the  par- 
doning mercy  of  God,  and  the  regenerating  influence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  the  second,  in  filling  the  heart,  thus 
emptied  of  sin,  with  the  perfect  love  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

There  are,  doubtless,  degrees  in  the  exercise  of  love,  as 
in  that  of  faith.  Hence  John  observes,  "  He  that  feareth 
is  not  made  perfect  in  love." — "  Perfect  love  casteth  out 
fear."  But  the  divine  command  is,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  "  Upon  these  two  command- 
ments hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets."  Nothing  short 
of  this  is  required  ;  but  when  this  perfect  love  of  God  and 
man  is  exercised,  the  utmost  demands  of  the  law,  as  to 
moral  obedience,  are  met  and  answered  ;  for  "  love  is  the 
fiilfilling  of  the  law."  "  He  that  loveth  another  hath  ful- 
filled the  law."  Do  you  ask,  with  Nicodemus,  "  How  can 
these  things  be  ?"  We  answer,  "  If  we  confess  our  sins, 
he  is  fiiithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse 
us  from  all  unrighteousness."  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ . 
his  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  "  He  that  is  born  of  God 
sinneth  7iot^  but  keepeth  himself,  and  that  wicked  one 
toucheth  him  not."  "  I  can  do  all  things,"  saith  an  apostle, 
"  through  Christ  who  strengtheneth  me." 

Thus,  though  we  have  neither  merit  nor  strength  of  our 
own,  yet  when  the  perfect  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in 
our  hearts,  by  the  Holy  Ghost  given  unto  us,  we  are  ena- 


IX.]  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  143 

bled  to  "  do  his  commandments."  And,  blessed  be  God, 
"  his  commandments  are  not  grievous."  "  His  yoke  is 
easy,  and  his  burden  is  light."  God  is  the  supreme  object 
of  his  delight  and  happiness,  the  source  of  his  comfort  and 
place  of  his  rest.  He  need  not  retire  into  solitude,  nor 
mingle  in  the  society  of  the  fashionable  world  to  find  hap- 
piness. He  need  not  pursue  worldly  pleasure,  wealth,  or 
fame,  to  find  rest  and  peace  to  his  soul — no,  his  happiness 
is  based  upon  a  broader  and  firmer  foundation. 

"  While  blcss'd  with  a  sense  of  his  love, 
A  palace  a  toy  would  appear : 
And  prisons  would  palaces  prove, 
If  Jesus  would  dwell  with  me  there." 

And  he  who  loves  God  with  all  his  heart,  will  also  love 
his  neighbor  as  himself.  His  neighbor,  being  a  part  of 
himself,  claims  and  shares  a  deep  and  lively  interest  in 
his  affections  ;  and  when  his  neighbor  is,  with  him,  raised 
to  be  a  partaker  of  like  precious  faith,  it  greatly  enhances 
the  felicity  of  both. 

But  this  love  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  household 
of  faith.  Were  it  so,  what  would  Christians  do  more  than 
others  ?  If  we  examine  the  context,  we  shall  find  that  our 
blessed  Lord  places  the  loving  of  our  enemies  among  the 
highest  attainments  of  the  Christian  character.  "  But  I 
say  unto  you.  Love  your  enemies  ;  bless  them  that  curse 
you  ;  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you ;  and  pray  for  them 
that  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you ;  that  ye  may 
be  the  children  of  your  Father  in  heaven :  for  he  maketh 
his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good ;  and  sendeth 
rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust.  For  if  ye  love  them 
which  love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ?  And  if  ye  salute 
your  brethren  only,  v^'hat  do  ye  more  than  others?  Do 
not  even  the  publicans  so  ?"  and  then  adds  the  words  of  the 
text, — "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect." 

Thus  we  see  that  to  love  our  enemies  forms  an  essen- 
tial branch  of  Christian  perfection.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  important,  and  yet  difficult  duties  of  the  Christian 
life,  and  utterly  impracticable  to  those  whose  hearts  are 
not  perfected  in  love  ;  but  with  the  heart  renewed  and 
filled  with  love,  this,  and  every  other  duty,  is  easy  and 
pleasant.     And  herein  the  Christian  religion  transcends 


144  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

all  others.  It  may  safely  cliallenge  all  otliers,  to  produce 
from  human  kind  a  single  individual,  who  is  not  only  de- 
void of  every  species  and  degree  of  the  spirit  of  revenge ; 
but  one  who  most  tenderly  pities,  blesses,  and  prays  for 
his  bitterest  enemies !  But  this,  every  genuine  Christian 
does  with  all  his  heart.  If  in  anything  we  are  godlike,  it 
is  in  the  exercise  of  love  to  our  enemies.  He,  as  the 
God  of  providence,  "  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil 
and  on  the  good  ;"  and  "  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on 
the  unjust ;"  and  as  the  God  of  grace,  he  "  hath  so  loved 
the  world,"  even  the  world  of  lost  sinners,  "  that  he  gave 
bis  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  And  that 
Son  of  God  "  commended  his  love  toward  us,  in  that  while 
we  were  yet  enemies  he  died  for  us,"  and  when  dying, 
said,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they  do." 
And  how  truly  godlike  did  Stephen  appear  wdien  he  said, 
"  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge !" 

But  how  could  a  fallen  sinner  be  so  saved  as  thus  to  feel, 
and  thus  to  pray  for  his  murderous  enemies  ?  Stephen  was 
a  perfect  Christian — perfect  as  his  Father  in  heaven  was 
perfect.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  was  "  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  This  answers  all  questions.  He  could  do  all  things 
through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  There  is,  then,  no 
greater  evidence  that  we  are  Christians,  than  that  we  feel 
and  exercise  this  godlike  disposition.  But  he  who  feels 
envy,  malice,  or  a  disposition  to  revenge  himself,  is  not 
made  perfect  in  love  :  for  perfect  love  casteth  out  all  these. 
But,  perhaps,  it  may  be  said.  If  this  be  true  Christianity, 
where  live  the  Christians  ?  Nay,  but  do  you  deny  that 
this  is  true  Christianity?  If  not,  then  we  are  so  far  right. 
"We  are  right  in  opinion.  We  are  on  the  Bible  founda- 
tion, at  least  in  theory.  But  supjiose — what,  however,  I  do 
not  admit — that  there  never  were  any  vAio  came  up  to  this 
standard  of  Christian  holiness,  would  this  prove  the  doc- 
trine itself  false  ?  Certainly  not.  "VYe  trust,  however,  that 
there  have  been  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  both  be- 
fore and  since  the  days  of  Stephen,  who  have  exhibited  the 
same  true  marks  of  Christian  perfection  which  character- 
ized him.  This  is,  indeed,  the  most  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of  the  Christian  religion.  Whatever  else  we  have, 
whether  of  natural  parts,  or  of  acquired  abilities,  of  amia- 


IX.]  CHRISTIAN  PEKFECTION.  145 

bleness  of  disposition,  or  accomplisliment  of  manners,  yet 
if  we  are  destitute  of  love  to  God  and  man,  our  enemies 
not  excepted,  our  religion  is  but  an  empty  sound  ;  the  form 
without  the  power ;  the  shadow  without  the  substance. 

Thirdly.    It  is  the  perfection  of  our  souls  in  humility. 

Pride  is  a  sin  against  both  tables  of  the  law.  It  acts 
against  God  in  a  wicked,  though  vain,  desire  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  him,  and  in  opposition  to  his  established  method 
of  saving  sinners.  It  swells  a  haughty  worm  to  a  high 
conceit  that  he  is,  intrinsically  and  comparatively,  far 
above  his  fellow-creatures ;  and,  what  is  most  base  of  all, 
it  renders  him  willing  and  desirous  to  be  thought  by  others 
what  he  is  conscious  he  is  not.  Now  perfect  humility  is 
the  reverse  of  all  this.  It  leads  a  man  to  feel,  to  acknow- 
ledge, and  to  acquiesce  in,  his  entire  dependence  on  God, 
without  the  least  infelicity  of  mind  on  this  account.  It 
leads  him  cordially  to  embrace  salvation  in  God's  own 
way,  notwithstanding  while  that  way  exalts  the  Saviour,  it 
robs  the  sinner  of  all  grounds  of  boasting,  and  casts  him 
into  the  dust  of  self-abasement  at  the  feet  of  Jesus.  It 
leads  him  to  think  no  more  highly  of  himself  than  he 
ought  to  think ;  and  to  assume  no  intrinsic  worth  of 
character,  on  account  of  the  providential  circumstances  of 
birth,  friends,  wealth,  learning,  influence,  beauty,  dress,  or 
the  like.  Above  all,  perfect  humility  saves  a  man  from 
any  desire  to  appear  to  others  what  he  knows  he  is  not. 
This  is  humility  ;  and  he  who  possesses  this  grace  in  its 
perfection,  possesses  one  of  the  greatest  safe-guards,  as 
well  as  ornaments,  of  the  Christian  character. 

Fourthly.    It  is  the  perfection  of  the  soul  in  meekness. 

Meekness  stands  opposed  to  anger,  wrath,  and  clamor. 
It  is  the  quietus  of  the  soul,  under  the  influence  of  the  per- 
fect love  of  God.  Not  only  does  it  "  lay  the  rough  paths 
of  peevish  nature  even,"  but  also  arms  the  soul  against  all 
the  assaults  and  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked.  It  is  prepared 
not  to  resist  evil,  but  to  bear  insult  and  fraud  without  an- 
ger or  retaliation.  It  stands  aloof  from  the  noisy  clamors 
of  this  world,  about  rights  of  priority,  satisfaction  for  real 
or  supposed  injuries,  and  from  strife  and  contention  of 
every  description.  If  smitten  on  the  one  cheek,  it  quietly 
and  patiently  turns  the  other.  If  sued  at  the  law  and  the 
coat  be  taken,  it  quietly  lets  the  cloak  ^o  also,  rather  than 

7 


146  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

do  wrong,  or  manifest  a  bad  spirit.  Indeed,  freedom  from 
angry  passions,  words,  and  actions,  is  among  the  highest 
attainments,  as  well  as  greatest  ornaments,  of  the  Christian 
character.     He  who  is  free  in  these  things,  is  free  indeed. 

"  What !  never  speak  one  evil  word  ? 
Or  rash,  or  idle,  or  mikind  '? 
O  how  shall  I,  most  gracious  Lord, 
Tills  mark  of  true  perfection  find  1" 

Finally.  This  perfection  consists  in  being  wholly  re- 
signed to  all  the  dispensations  of  divine  Providence. 

This  state  of  mind  is  most  beautifully  and  comprehen- 
sively set  forth  by  the  apostle  where  he  says,  "  Rejoice 
evermore,  and  in  everything  give  thanks ;  for  this  is  the 
will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  concerning  you."  By  being 
resigned,  however,  is  not  meant  that  there  is  no  feeling  un- 
der the  pressure  of  afflictions  and  disappointments.  There 
is,  doubtless,  such  a  thing  as  having  little  or  no  feeling 
under  the  various  afflictions  of  the  present  life,  arising  from 
ignorance,  or  a  sort  of  morbid  insensibility  of  mind,  but 
this  is  not  resignation.  Doubtless  there  are  many  who 
think  themselves,  and  are  thought  by  others,  to  be  very 
much  resigned  to  the  will  of  God,  when,  in  fact,  it  is 
nothing  but  a  natural  or  acquired  insensibility,  by  which 
they  appear  to  be  what  they  are  not.  To  such,  resigna- 
tion is,  at  most,  but  a  negative  virtue.  Neither  is  it  the 
mere  feeling  of  acquiescence  in  the  dispensations  of  the 
divine  will,  when  that  will  is  in  perfect  accordance  with 
our  own  wishes.  There  is  no  great  virtue  in  being  satis- 
fied when  all  our  wishes  are  gratified.  A  man  once  said, 
that  when  walking  through  his  fields  of  corn,  and  observing 
the  large  and  plentiful  ears,  he  was  so  overcome  with  a 
sense  of  the  goodness  of  God,  that  he  was  constrained  to 
fall  down  upon  his  knees,  and,  with  flowing  tears,  give 
thanks  for  the  bounties  of  Providence.  This  was  all  very 
well.  But  another  man  said,  in  the  year  1816,  when  the 
corn  was  nearly  all  cut  off  by  the  cold  season,  that  "  corn 
was  big  enough  that  year  for  Christians  !"  and  no  one 
who  knew  him  doubted  that  he  felt  what  he  said.  This  is 
the  true  character  of  Christian  resignation.  Let  the  un- 
derstanding be  well  enlightened,  and  the  mind  tenderly 
alive  to  all  its  interests  ;  then  let  these  interests  be  touched 
in  the  tenderest  parts ;  let  property  mount  the  wings  of 


IX.]  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  147 

fire,  or  be  borne  away  on  the  bosom  of  the  flood  ;  let  fell 
disease  enter  his  dwelling,  and  ruthless  death  break  up 
the  dearest  family  circle ;  let  all  earthly  hopes  be  blasted, 
and  then  it  is  that  his  resignation  is  put  to  the  test.  Then, 
if  he  stand,  his  strength  is  not  small.  Then  he  will  be 
heard  to  say,  "  Good  is  the  will  of  the  Lord."  "  Not  as  I 
will,  but  as  thou  wilt."  "  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord 
hath  taken  away,  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

Nothing,  however,  short  of  entire  sanctification  can  pro- 
duce this  happy  state  of  mind.  But  the  possession  of  this 
great  salvation  will  serve  as  a  ballast  to  the  soul,  which 
will  enable  it  safely  to  ride  out  all  the  storms  of  life,  and 
to  land  safe  on  that  eternal  shore. 

Thus  we  see  what  the  Bible  teaches  on  the  subject 
of  Christian  perfection.  And  if  the  chapter  from  which 
the  text  has  been  selected  be  examined,  it  is  believed  that 
all  these  points  will  be  found,  directly  or  indirectly,  set 
forth  therein  by  our  Saviour  himself.  There  are  the  poor 
in  spirit,  whose  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  There  are 
they  that  mourn,  and  are  comforted.  There  are  the  meek, 
inheriting  the  earth.  There  are  those  who  do  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,  and  are  filed.  There  are  the 
merciful,  obtaining  mercy ;  the  "pure  in  hearty  who  shall  see 
God;  the  peacemakers^  who  are  called  the  children  of 
God.  There  are  they  who  are  persecuted  for  righteous- 
ness' sake,  whose  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven — rejoicing  and 
being  exceedingly  giad  in  the  midst  of  all  manner  of  false 
accusations  for  Christ's  sake. 

There  are  they  who  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  the  lights 
of  the  world,  the  city  on  the  hill,  the  candle  on  the  candle- 
stick. There  are  they  who  do,  and  teach  others  to  do,  the 
least  of  the  commandments.  There  are  set  forth  those 
whose  righteousness  exceeds  that  of  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, and,  therefore,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven. There  are  those  free  from  all  sinful  anger,  and  rash 
and  reproachful  speeches ;  using  all  possible  means  to  be 
reconciled  to  an  offended  brother.  There  are  those  whose 
very  eyes,  as  well  as  hearts,  are  clean  from  the  pollutions 
of  adultery;  having  crucified  the  flesh  with  its  affections 
and  lusts,  by  plucking  out  right  eyes,  and  cutting  off  right 
hands.  There  are  those  saved  from  all  rash  swearing, 
and  from  every  irreverent  use  of  the  name,  attributes,  or 


148  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

works  of  God ;  those  free  from  every  species  and  degree 
of  the  spirit  of  retaliation ;  quiet  under  repeated  insults 
and  wrongs;  possessed  of  a  charitable  and  benevolent 
heart ;  full  of  neighborly  kindness  ;  and  last,  though  not 
least,  love  to  their  bitterest  enemies. 

Now,  let  this  assemblage  of  Christian  graces  and  vir- 
tues be  found  existing  in  and  actuating  any  human  being, 
and  he  is,  in  our  Lord's  sense  of  the  term,  perfect,  even  as 
our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.  But  if  any  be  disposed 
still  to  doubt,  let  him  answer  this  question  to  his  own  con- 
science : — Which  of  the  graces,  above  enumerated,  can  be 
dispensed  with,  and  we  still  be  prepared  for  heaven  ? 

Now,  that  the  doctrine  above  stated  is  true,  we  prove 
from  the  following  considerations. 

First.  God  has  commanded  us  to  be  holy.  Hear  a  few 
of  his  commands  touching  this  point : — "  Thou  shalt  be 
perfect  with  the  Lord  thy  God."  "  Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  I 
am  holy."  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  "  Be  ye  perfect, 
even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect."  Here 
is  both  the  evidence  of  what  we  may  be,  namely,  holy  in 
heart  and  life,  and  the  command  so  to  be. 

Secondly.  The  promises  of  God  are  so  many  evidences 
of  the  truth  of  this  doctrine.  "  The  Lord  thy  God  will 
circumcise  thy  heart,  and  the  heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
that  thou  may  est  live."  "  In  that  day  there  shall  be  a 
fountain  opened  in  the  house  of  David,  and  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  Jerusalem,  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness."  And  in 
view  of  this  fountain,  he  says,  by  the  mouth  of  Ezekiel, 
"  Then  will  I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall 
be  clean :  from  all  your  filthiness  and  from  all  your  idols 
will  I  cleanse  you.  A  new  heart  also  will  I  give  you,  and 
a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you ;  and  I  will  take  away 
the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  a 
heart  of  flesh.  And  I  will  put  my  Spirit  within  you,  and 
cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes,  and  ye  shall  keep  my 
judgments  and  do  them." 

To  these  agree  the  words  of  John : — "  If  we  walk  in  the 
light  as  he  is  in  the  light,  we  have  fellowship  one  with 
another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us 
from  all  sin."     "  His  name  shall  be  called  Jesus,  for  he 


IX.]  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  149 

shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins."  "  To  perform  the 
mercy  promised  to  our  fathers,  and  to  remember  his  holy 
covenant,  the  oath  which  he  sware  to  our  father  Abraham, 
that  he  would  grant  unto  us,  that  we  being  delivered  out 
of  the  hand  of  our  enemies,  might  serve  him  without  fear, 
in  holiness  and  righteousness  before  him  all  the  days  of  our 
lifer  These  promises  of  God,  with  many  more  which 
might  be  adduced,  are  all  "yea,  and  in  him,  amen,  unto 
the  glory  of  God."  Who,  then,  can  doubt  the  possibility 
of  being  made  holy — of  being  saved  from  all  sin  in  this 
life  —  after  reading  these  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises  from  the  lips  of  eternal  truth  and  faithfulness  ? 

Thirdly.  This  doctrine  is  proved  by  the  inspired  prayers 
which  have  been  offered  up  for  this  great  blessing. 

But  before  we  proceed  to  notice  those  which  are  properly 
denominated  inspired  prayers,  let  us  notice  one  or  two 
offered  by  the  Saviour  himself  for  the  same  thing : — "  I 
pray  not  that  thou  shouldst  take  them  out  of  the  world, 
but  that  thou  shouldst  Tceep  them  from  the  evil"  "  Sanctify 
them  through  thy  truth,  thy  word  is  truth."  "  I  in  them, 
and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one." 

These  prayers  were  offered  up  by  one  who  said,  "  Father, 
I  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me ;  and  I  know  that 
thou  hearest  me  always" 

Now  for  the  prayers  of  inspired  men  for  full  salvation  :—- 
"  And  the  very  God  of  peace  sanctify  you  wholly :  and  I 
pray  God  your  whole  spirit,  and  soul,  and  body,  be  pre- 
served blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Faithful  is  he  that  calleth  you,  who  also  will  do  it"  "Will 
do  what  ?  Why,  sanctify  you  wholly,  spirit,  soul,  and  body, 
and  preserve  you  blameless.  "  Now  I  pray  to  God  that  ye 
do  no  evil;  and  this  also  we  wish,  even  your  perfection." 
But,  perhaps,  the  most  comprehensive  of  all  the  inspired 
prayers,  is  that  offered  by  St.  Paul  for  the  Ephesians. 
And  let  it  be  remembered,  that  full  salvation  is  the  special 
object  of  this  apostolic  prayer.  "  For  this  cause  I  bow 
my  knees  unto  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of 
whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named, 
that  he  would  grant  you,  according  to  the  riches  of  his 
glory,  to  be  strengthened  with  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the 
inner  man ;  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith ; 
that  ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  be  able  to 


150  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

comprehend  witli  all  saints  what  is  the  hreadth,  and  length, 
and  depth,  and  height,  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ, 
which  passeth  knowledge,  that  ye  might  be  filled  with  all 
the  fullness  of  God.  Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  do  ex- 
ceeding abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  accord- 
ing to  the  power  that  worketh  in  us  ;  unto  him  be  glory 
in  the  church  by  Christ  Jesus,  throughout  all  ages,  world 
without  end.  Amen."  No  one  will  doubt  that  this  is  a 
prayer  for  holiness — for  Christian  perfection.  And  who 
will  doubt  that  this  inspired  prayer  comprehends  also  the 
measure  of  that  holiness  which  may  be  expected  in  the 
present  life  ? 

Now,  can  it  be  believed  that  God  would  inspire  holy 
men  to  pray  in  this  manner  for  a  state  of  holiness  which, 
at  the  same  time,  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  attain  unto  ? 
It  cannot  be.  The  very  fact  of  his  inspiring  men  thus  to 
pray,  proves  that  the  blessing  is  for  the  church. 

Fourthly.  This  doctrine  is  proved  by  the  testimony  of 
God  concerning  many  of  his  saints. 

Passing  over  the  case  of  Abel,  who,  by  obedient  faith, 
"  obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous,"  let  us  notice  the 
case  of  Enoch.  Of  him  the  Holy  Ghost  bears  testimony, 
that  he  "  walked  with  God  three  hundred  years  ;"  and  that 
"  by  faith  he  was  translated,  that  he  should  not  see  death, 
for,  before  his  translation,  he  had  this  testimony,  that  he 
pleased  God."  Here  is  a  fallen  sinner,  brought  nigh  by 
the  blood  of  the  covenant,  and  walking  with  God,  in  holi- 
ness and  righteousness,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  pleasing 
in  his  sight,  for  the  space  of  three  hundred  years,  and  that, 
too,  in  a  very  dark  age,  in  the  midst  of  a  very  wicked 
generation,  and  with  very  few  helps ! 

Noah,  also,  is  pronounced,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  have 
been  "  a  just  man,  and  perfect  in  his  generations  :"  and  one 
that  "  walked  with  God."  Nor  is  the  solitary  instance  of 
error  mentioned  of  him  to  invalidate  the  testimony  of  God 
concerning  his  general  character;  for,  if  viewed  in  its 
worst  light,  it  only  proves  the  possibility  of  falling  from 
the  highest  state  of  grace.  But  from  the  circumstances 
X)f  the  case,  and  from  the  absence  of  all  evidence  that  it 
was  ever  repeated,  we  may  well  doubt  whether,  in  that 
instance,  any  moral  turpitude  attached  to  the  act  in  the 
sight  of  God. 


IX.]  CHEISTIAN  PERFECTION.  151 

Caleb  and  Joshua  are  declared,  by  the  spirit  of  inspira- 
tion, to  have  had  "  another  spirit  with  them,"  and  to  have 
^^  followed  the  Lord  fully  "  Moses,  who  had  been  long  and 
intimately  acquainted  with  these  men,  bore  this  noble  tes- 
timony to  the  holiness  of  their  characters,  and  at  the  very 
time,  too,  at  which  he  acknowledges  those  very  imperfec- 
tions by  which  he  was  himself  denied  the  privilege  of  en- 
tering the  promised  land.  Samuel  the  prophet,  and  John 
the  Baptist,  were  both  bright  examples  of  this  faith ;  the 
latter,  especially,  "  being  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  even 
from  his  mother's  womb."  And  the  Holy  Ghost  testifies 
of  Zacharias  and  Elisabeth,  that  they  were  "  both  righteous 
before  God,  walking  in  all  the  commandments  and  ordi- 
nances of  the  Lord  blameless."  Joseph  and  Mary  were 
both  just  and  holy  persons.  Anna,  the  prophetess,  must 
be  numbered  among  the  bright  examples  of  Christian  per- 
fection. She  departed  not  from  the  temple,  but  served  the 
Lord  with  fastings  and  prayers  day  and  night.  To  these 
may  be  added  Stephen,  and  Paul,  and  John,  the  beloved 
disciple.  And  what  shall  I  say  more?  for  the  time 
would  fail  me  to  recount  the  hosts  of  God's  elect,  who, 
in  every  age,  have  experienced  the  full  "washing  of 
regeneration  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
These  have  all  gone  up  through  great  tribulation,  having 
washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb. 

Having  shown  what  is  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  per- 
fection which  God  requires,  and  proved  it  to  be  a  Bible 
doctrine,  we  proceed, 

11.   To  point  out  the  way  hy  which  it  may  he  obtained. 

And  first.  He  who  would  obtain  the  blessing  of  entire 
sanctification,  must  believe  the  blessing  attainable.  It  is 
in  vain  to  seek  for  this  or  any  other  spiritual  blessing  in 
unbelief.  If,  then,  we  do  not  believe* that  there  is  any 
such  state  attainable  in  this  life,  there  is  no  hope  that  we 
shall  ever  obtain  it ;  for  we  shall  see  that  it  is  to  be  re- 
ceived by  simple  faith.  Our  unbelief  will  prove  a  fatal 
bar  to  our  advancing  a  single  step  toward  it.  This  must 
first  be  removed.  And  to  remove  it,  look  into  the  word  of 
God.  Look  at  the  holiness  of  God;  the  holiness  and 
spirituality  of  the  divine  law.  Look  at  the  fullness  of  the 
gospel,  the  efficacy  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  the  power  of  the 


152  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

Holy  Ghost,  the  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises,  by 
which  we  are  made  partakers  of  the  divine  nature.  Look 
at  the  experiences  of  many  of  the  children  of  God,  both  as 
recorded  in  the  Bible  and  in  Christian  biography ;  where 
a  living  testimony  is  borne  to  the  willingness  and  power 
of  God  to  save  from  all  sin  in  this  life.  And  when  your 
heart  is  well  established  in  the  firm  belief  that  God  can 
and  will  sanctify  you  v/hoUy,  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanseth  from  all  sin,  then, 

Secondly.  Labor  to  understand  the  nature  of  the  bless- 
ing you  seek.  Many  persons,  by  mistaking  the  nature  of 
this  great  work,  have  sought  it  in  vain  for  a  long  time. 
Some  have  erred  by  placing  it  in  something  aside  from 
what  it  is.  They  have  supposed  that  it  consisted  in  some 
miraculous  change,  which  would  overpower  the  whole  sys- 
tem, and  be  attended  and  followed  by  such  a  scene  of  su- 
pernatural light  and  wisdom,  such  ecstatic  joy  and  over- 
whelmnig  happiness,  as  nothing  could  destroy,  or  even 
abate.  That  light,  and  joy,  and  happiness,  generally  flow 
from  this  blessed  work,  is  doubtless  true ;  but  these  are 
the  fruits,  not  the  tree  itself. 

Others  have  placed  the  blessing  too  high.  They  have 
expected  that  entire  sanctification  would  place  them  above 
the  infirmities  of  this  life,  and  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
temptation,  neither  of  which  is  true.  Let  it  be  well  under- 
stood, then,  that  the  blessing  of  which  we  speak  consists 
in  the  removal  of  all  sin  from  the  heart ; — an  entire  de- 
liverance from  the  guilt,  the  power,  the  pollution,  the  love, 
and  the  practice  of  sin  ;  and  in  having  the  perfect  love  of 
God  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost  given 
unto  us.  Do  not  lose  sight  of  this  fact,  that  it  consists  in 
having  the  heart  emptied  of  sin  and  filled  with  love — love 
to  God  and  man.  Whatever  else  we  have,  or  have  not, 
if  we  have  supreme'  love  to  God,  and  love  to  all  mankind, 
we  have  this  great  blessing. 

Thirdly.  If  we  would  seek  this  great  salvation  aright, 
we  must  set  out  in  the  possession  of  present  justification. 
If  we  have  never  been  truly  converted,  or  are  now  in  a 
backslidden  state,  we  are  unprepared  to  seek  for  entire 
sanctification,  until  we  return  to  God  by  repentance,  and 
seek  pardon  and  justification  by  faith.  But  if  we  stand 
clear  in  a  justified  state,  and  are  pressing  on  toward  the 


IX.J  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  153 

mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus,  we  shall  soon  be  brought  into  deep  conviction  of 
mind  for  holiness  of  heart  and  life ; — conviction  which  will 
not  be  attended  with  a  sense  of  guilt  and  condemnation ; 
for,  being  already  in  Christ  Jesus,  there  is  no  condemna- 
tion ;  but  a  deep  and  penetrating  sense  of  want  of  full  con- 
formity to  the  holy  and  lovely  image  of  God  ;  and  accom- 
panied by  an  unconquerable  hungering  and  thirsting  after 
righteousness. 

Fourthly.  This  blessing  must  be  sought  by  simple  faith. 
Not  only  must  we  believe  that  the  blessing  is  attainable, 
but  also  that  God  is  both  able  and  willing  to  impart  it  to  us 
for  Christ's  sake.  We  must  believe  that  there  is  efficacy 
in  the  blood  of  Christ  to  cleanse  from  all  sin ;  that  it  is  the 
will  of  God,  even  our  sanctification.  We  must  believe  that 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  both  able  and  willing  to  purify  us  from 
all  filthiness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  and  to  enable  us  to 
'■'•  'perfect  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God."  Nay,  we  must  not 
only  beHeve  that  he  is  able  and  willing,  but  also  that  he  is 
"  faithful,  and  will  do  it.'''  Hold  these  points  fast,  and  do 
not  relinquish  them  for  a  moment.  Thou  art  not  far  from 
the  kingdom. 

Fifthly.  This  great  blessing  must  be  sought  in  answer 
to  fervent  and  unceasing  prayer,  accompanied  by  fasting 
and  self-denial. 

Almost  every  blessing  is  suspended  upon  the  condition 
of  prayer ;  and  there  are  some  blessings  which  cannot  be 
obtained  without  "  fasting  and  prayer."  Not  that  there  is 
any  merit  in  either  ;  but  it  has  pleased  God  to  say,  "  Ask, 
and  ye  shall  receive."  "  All  things  whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  in  prayer,  believing,  ye  shall  receive."  "  Whatsoever 
ye  shall  ask  the  Father  in  my  name,  he  will  give  it  you." 
"  If  ye  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father  in  heaven  give 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  ?" 

Self-denial  is  also  a  duty  intimately  connected  with  a 
vigorous  growth  in  grace.  No  one  can  hope  to  advance  in 
the  divine  life — to  obtain  the  perfect  love  of  God — who 
lives  in  the  indulgence  of  his  carnal  appetites  and  passions. 
Right  eyes  must  be  plucked  out ;  right  hands  cut  off. 

We  must  deny  ourselves  of  all  ungodliness  and  worldly 
lusts,  and  live  soberly,  and  righteously,  and  godly,  in  this 

7* 


154  CHRISTIAN  PERFECTION.  [SER. 

present  world,  cleansing  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the 
flesh  and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God. 

Finally.  This  great  salvation  of  the  gospel  is  to  be  sought 
in  the  diligent  use  of  all  the  means  of  grace,  and  in  the 
faithful  performance  of  all  the  duties  devolving  upon  us. 
In  a  word,  we  must  make  it  the  chief  business  of  life,  the 
all-absorbing  concern  of  the  soul,  to  seek  an  entire  death 
unto  sin  ;  to  be  "  crucified  with  Christ,"  that  the  "  life  we 
now  live  in  the  flesh  may  be  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of 
God,  who  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us." 

And  now,  that  we  may  be  incited  to  this  all-important 
duty,  let  us  remember  that  God  has  commanded  us  to  be 
holy;  to  love  him  with  all  our  heart,  soul,  mind,  and 
strength,  and  our  neighbor  as  ourselves.  Let  us  bear  in 
mind,  that  "  without  holiness  no  one  shall  see  the  Lord." 
Let  us  not  forget  that  our  usefulness,  our  happiness,  and 
our  salvation,  all  depend  on  our  being  holy  in  heart,  in 
life,  and  in  all  manner  of  conversation.  And,  for  our  en- 
couragement, let  us  remember,  that  God  has  graciously 
promised  to  circumcise  our  hearts  that  we  may  love  and 
obey  him  as  he  requires ;  that  he  will  sprinkle  us  with 
clean  water,  and  cleanse  us  from  all  our  filthiness  and  from 
all  our  idols.  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin  ;  that  if  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
of  goats,  and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer  sprinkling  the  unclean, 
sanctifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh,  how  much  more 
shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who,  through  the  eternal  Spirit, 
oflered  himself  without  spot  to  God,  purge  our  consciences 
from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God?  How  much 
more  ?  Why,  as  much  more  as  the  blood  of  Christ,  as  a 
vicarious  sacrifice,  is  more  availing  than  the  blood  of  bulls 
and  of  goats ;  as  much  more  as  the  blood  of  Christ,  as  a 
ransom  price,  is  more  valuable  than  those ;  as  much 
more,  as  the  blood  of  Christ,  as  a  fountain  for  sin  and  un- 
cleanness,  is  more  efliicacious  than  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
of  goats.  Come,  then,  my  brethren,  and  by  faith  plunge 
into  this  fountain,  and  wash  your  robes  and  make  them 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  Now,  unto  Him  that 
loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood, 
and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his  Fa- 
ther;  to  him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


X.]      PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OP  BELIEVERS.      155 

SERMON   X. 

The  Present  and  the  Future  State  of  Believers. 

BY  REV.  Z.  PADDOCK,  D.  D., 

OF   THK   ONEIDA   CONFERENCE. 

"  For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens.  For  in  this  we  groan,  earnestly  desiring  to 
be  clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from  heaven  :  if  so  be,  that 
being  clothed,  we  shall  not  be  found  naked.  For  we  that  are  in  tliis 
tabernacle  do  groan,  being  burdened ;  not  for  that  we  would  be  un- 
clotlied,  but  clothed  upon,  that  mortality  might  be  swallowed  up  of 
life."— 2  Cor.  v,  1-4. 

All  Scripture,  affirms  St.  Paul  in  another  place,  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God.  With  all  true  believers  this 
is  an  incontestable  fact.  None  who  properly  belong  to  the 
household  of  faith,  ever  think  of  calling  it  in  question.  It 
should,  however,  be  distinctly  remembered,  that,  though 
the  sacred  writings  are  divinely  inspired,  their  division 
into  chapters,  and  sections,  and  verses,  is  the  work  of 
man ;  and,  like  every thmg  that  man  does,  is  marked  with 
imperfection.  In  general,  these  divisions  are  judicious ; 
but  not  always.  Occasionally  there  is  a  severance  of  things 
that  ought  to  be  read  in  close  and  inseparable  connection 
with  each  other.  Facts,  and  arguments,  and  illustrations, 
that  should  be  seen  in  consecutive  order,  that  should  be 
contemplated  in  their  immediate  relative  bearings,  are 
sometimes  most  unaccountably  put  asunder. 

We  have  an  instance  in  the  subject  now  before  us.  The 
text  is  a  part  of  an  argument  which  commences  as  far 
back  as  the  eighth  verse  of  the  preceding  chapter ;  which 
argument  loses  half  of  its  force  by  an  unnatural  division. 
That  we  may  the  more  fully  enter  into  the  meaning  of  the 
apostle,  and  the  more  deeply  feel  the  force  of  his  reason- 
ing, let  us  restore  the  connection.  "  We  are  troubled  on 
every  side,  yet  not  distressed ;  we  are  perplexed,  but  not 
in  despair ;  persecuted,  but  not  forsaken  ;  cast  down,  but 
not  destroyed ;  always  bearing  about  in  the  body  the 
dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  the  life  also  of  Jesus  might  be 


156     PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.     [SER. 

made  manifest  in  our  body.  For  we  which  live  are  always 
delivered  unto  death  for  Jesus'  sake,  that  the  life  also  of 
Jesus  might  be  made  manifest  in  our  mortal  flesh.  So  then 
death  worketh  in  us,  but  life  in  you.  We  having  the  same 
spirit  of  faith,  according  as  it  is  written,  I  believed,  and 
therefore  have  I  spoken  ;  we  also  believe,  and  therefore 
speak ;  knowing  that  he  which  raised  up  the  Lord  Jesus  shall 
raise  up  us  also  by  Jesus,  and  shall  present  us  with  you. 
For  all  things  are  for  your  sakes,  that  the  abundant  grace 
might,  through  the  thanksgiving  of  many,  redound  to  the 
glory  of  God.  For  which  cause  we  faint  not ;  but  though 
our  outward  man  perish,  yet  the  inward  man  is  renewed 
day  by  day.  For  our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a 
moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory  ;  Avhile  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are 
seen  :  for  the  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal ;  but  the 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal."  Carrying  forward 
the  same  unbroken  train  of  thought,  the  apostle  adds  : 
"For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle 
were  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  For  in  this  we 
groan,  earnestly  desiring  to  be  clothed  upon  with  our  house 
which  is  from  heaven  :  if  so  be,  that  being  clothed,  we 
shall  not  be  found  naked.  For  we  that  are  in  this  taber- 
nacle do  groan,  being  burdened  ;  not  for  that  we  would  be 
unclothed,  but  clothed  upon,  that  mortality  might  be  swal- 
lowed up  of  life." 

Presuming  that  the  scope  and  design  of  the  apostle  are 
now  somewhat  clearly  before  the  minds  of  our  hearers,  we 
would  proceed  to  a  more  particular  consideration  of  the 
words  of  the  text ;  in  which  are  comprehensively  brought 
to  view — the  present  state  of  the  good  and  pious — their 
future  state — and  the  earnest  desire  they  feel  to  be  freed 
from  the  one,  and  to  enjoy  the  other. 

I.  We  begin  with  the  present  state  of  the  good  and 
pious — the  people  of  God. 

The  text  may  have  had  an  emphatic  reference,  originally, 
to  the  apostles  and  primitive  teachers  of  Christianity.  But 
then  there  was  nothing  so  peculiar  in  their  case  as  to 
render  the  description  less  applicable  to  the  humblest  fol- 
lower of  Christ,  in  any  and  every  age  of  the  world.  The 
Christian  profession,  as  well  as  human  life,  has  always 


XO       PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.        157 

involved,  substantially,  the  same  trials  and  conflicts.  What- 
ever, therefore,  was  true  of  St.  Paul  and  his  illustrious 
coadjutors,  is,  at  least  to  a  certain  extent,  true  of  all  those 
who  are  now  following  them,  who  through  faith  and  pa- 
tience inherit  the  divine  promises.  Their  present  state  is 
distinguished  by  several  deeply  interesting  facts,  which  the 
apostle  enumerates,  or,  perhaps,  more  properly,  classifies, 
in  the  words  of  the  text. 

1.  They  here  dwell  in  an  "earthly  house."  By  this 
expression  the  apostle  evidently  means  the  human  body. 
Man  is  not  a  machine,  nor  is  he  a  mere  mass  of  organized 
matter.  He  has  something  more  than  a  visible  form. 
What  we  see  is  not  the  agent,  but  only  the  instrument ;  not 
the  inhabitant,  but  only  the  dwelling.  "  There  is  a  spirit 
in  man,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  giveth  him 
understanding."  For  this  intelligent  spirit,  this  interior 
man,  the  Creator  has  furnished  an  appropriate  habitation. 
And  though  this  dwelling  has  been  greatly  injured  by  sin, 
it  still  retains  enough  of  its  original  excellence  to  excite 
our  admiration,  and  induce  us  to  exclaim,  with  one  whose 
philosophy  was  equaled  only  by  his  devotion,  "  I  am  fear- 
fully and  wonderfully  made !"  Galen,  a  distinguished 
physician,  who  was  long  atheistically  inclined,  after  ex- 
amining more  carefully  the  human  body  in  the  number, 
i:)erfection,  and  exquisite  adaptation  of  its  parts,  was  fully 
convinced  of  the  being  and  perfection  of  God,  and  com- 
posed a  beautiful  hymn  to  his  praise.  The  animal  economy, 
indeed,  infinitely  surpasses  the  most  perfect  piece  of 
mechanism  ever  yet  produced  by  the  art  or  ingenuity  of 
man. 

But  boast  as  we  may  of  "  the  human  form  divine,"  it  is, 
after  all,  a  mere  earthly  house.  The  elements  of  which  it 
was  originally  composed  are  nothing  better  than  the  dust 
of  the  earth.  What  a  lesson  of  humility  does  this  fact 
teach  us  !  Well  might  the  patriarch  say  of  man,  that  "  he 
dwells  in  a  house  of  clay,  whose  foundation  is  in  the  dust." 
Though  allied  to  angels  by  the  immortality  of  our  nature, 
our  bodies  are  "  of  the  earth,  earthy."  From  thence  are 
drawn  all  our  physical  supplies.  Though,  in  a  given  case, 
it  may  have  been  the  fact  that  "  man  did  eat  angels'  food," 
yet  it  is  as  true  now  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  hero  of 
Uz,  that  "  out  of  the  earth  cometh  bread."     And  then  the 


158    PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.     [SER. 

tendency  of  this  beautiful  fabric  is  to  the  same  source 
whence  its  elements  were  originally  taken.  "  Dust  thou 
art,"  said  an  incensed  Deity  to  our  great  progenitor,  after 
his  guilty  transgression  and  unhappy  fall,  "  and  unto  dust 
shalt  thou  return."  "  Dust  to  dust,  ashes  to  ashes" — closes 
the  drama  of  human  life.  Go,  then,  boasting  mortal,  and 
inscribe  over  the  grave  of  the  once  noble  form,  and  the 
once  dimpled  cheek,  and  the  once  sparkling  eye,  and  the 
once  ruby  lip,  and  the  once  fascinating  tongue, — 

"  How  loved  or  valued  once  avails  thee  not, 
To  whom  related,  or  by  whom  begot; 
A  heap  of  dust  alone  remains  of  thee, 
'Tis  all  thou  art,  and  all  the  proud  shall  be." 

2.  But  the  apostle  places  our  frailty  in  a  still  stronger 
light.  The  body  is  not  only  called  a  "  house,"  but  a  tent, 
or  "  tabernacle."  The  house,  though  earthly  and  perish- 
ing, alFords,  while  it  lasts,  a  permanent  residence.  But 
the  tabernacle  is  a  removable  habitation,  and  used  only  by 
those  who  are  on  a  journey.  Besides,  it  is  frail ;  held 
together  only  by  pins,  and  hooks,  and  cords ;  and  conse- 
quently easily  prostrated.  With  St.  Paul,  especially,  this 
figure  must  have  had  great  force ;  as  he  was  familiar  with 
the  structure  of  such  a  kind  of  residence,  being  by  craft  a 
tent-maker. 

In  the  nineteenth  verse  of  the  fourth  chapter  of  the 
book  of  Job,  a  part  of  which  has  already  been  quoted, 
Eliphaz  the  Temanite,  speaking  of  man's  frail  tabernacle, 
asserts  that  "  it  is  crushed  before  the  moth."  The  full 
force  of  this  figure  is  hardly  felt  by  the  mere  English 
reader.  The  idea  generally  received  is,  that  man's  fragile 
tenement  gives  way  as  does  the  garment  before  the  teeth 
of  the  moth.  But  this  by  no  means  does  justice  to 
the  sacred  text.  The  original  words  ^"i::3>"'^_35b)  should, 
doubtless,  be  rendered,  before  the  face  of  the  moth.  Job 
supposes  the  body  of  man  so  exceedingly  weak  and  feeble, 
that  even  the  moth,  flying  against  it,  may  break  it  in 
pieces  ! 

When  we  take  a  view  of  the  surprising  structure  and 
curious  workmanship  of  the  human  body,  the  con- 
tinuance of  life  may  justly  excite  greater  astonishment 
than   even  its   dissolution.      There   are  so  many  nicely 


X-l       PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.       159 

adjusted  parts  in  this  complicated  structure,  depending 
apparently  on  very  weak  and  slender  instruments;  such 
an  immense  number  of  delicate  tissues,  arteries  with  their 
innumerable  ramifications,  veins  with  their  inimitably 
formed  valves,  nerves  distributed  to  every  part ;  and  all 
these  so  frail  and  delicate,  that  the  slightest  accident  would 
seem  sufficient  to  arrest  the  essential  movements  of  life, 
and  prostrate  in  a  moment  the  whole  beautiful  fabric.  Ac- 
cordingly the  most  trivial  accidents  are  sometimes  fatal  to 
man.  "  A  fly,  a  grape-stone,  or  a  hair,  can  kill."  The 
slightest  touch,  and  the  film,  the  bubble  breaks,  the  taber- 
nacle is  dissolved,  and  the  deathless  occupant  passes  away 
to  another  habitation ! 

"  All,  in  what  perils  is  vain  life  engaged ! 
What  slight  neglects,  what  trivial  faults,  destroy 
The  hardiest  frame !    Of  indolence,  of  toil, 
We  die  ;  of  want,  of  superfluity. 
The  all-surrounding  heaven,  the  vital  air, 
Is  full  of  death." 

3.  And  then  the  present  life  is  one  of  trial  and  conflwt. 
The  fragile  tabernacle  in  which  we  pass  our  brief  proba- 
tion is  the  seat  of  pain  and  anguish :  "  For  we  that  are  in 
this  tabernacle  do  groan,"  says  the  apostle,  "  being  bur- 
dened." To  have  some  idea  of  what  he  and  his  illustrious 
compeers  suffered,  we  have  only  to  turn  back  to  the  details 
of  the  preceding  chapter :  "  We  are  troubled  on  every 
side,"  &c.  Verses  8-11.  Speaking,  elsewhere,  of  the  suf- 
fering of  some  of  the  ancient  worthies — perhaps  the  Mac- 
cabean  Jews — he  says  that  they  "had  trial  of  cruel 
mockings  and  scourgings  ;  yea,  moreover,  of  bonds  and 
imprisonments  :  they  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder, 
were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword ;  they  wandered 
about  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins  ;  being  destitute,  af- 
flicted, tormented,  (of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,) 
they  wandered  in  deserts,  and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens, 
and  in  caves  of  the  earth."  And  all  of  this  would  be 
equally  true,  if  said  of  the  primitive  Christians.  They, 
too,  were  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter,  and  de- 
voted to  a  persecution  as  cruel  as  it  was  unprincipled  and 
malicious. 

Modern   Christians  may  not   pass   through   the   same 


160    PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.  [SER. 

kind  of  trials.  Persecution  is  not  now  legalized.  Liberty 
of  conscience,  at  least  in  form,  is  beginning  to  be  enjoyed  in 
most  civilized  countries.  But  still  the  good  are  exposed  to 
a  sort  of  persecution.  If  not  obliged  to  suffer  legal  pains 
and  penalties,  they  often  have  to  endure,  what  is,  per- 
haps, still  worse — contumely,  and  reproach,  and  reviUngs, 
and  almost  every  species  of  insult.  The  carnal  mind  is 
still,  as  it  always  has  been,  enmity  against  God.  Hence, 
they  that  go  forth  to  the  Redeemer  without  the  camp,  must 
expect  to  bear  his  reproach.  The  men  of  this  world  will 
never  act  justly  and  candidly  toward  a  pure  and  elevated 
religion.  They  always  affect  to  pity  or  to  despise  it.  It 
is,  in  their  estimation,  either  weakness,  or  derangement,  or 
enthusiasm,  or  mercenariness,  or  hypocrisy. 

And  while  the  people  of  God  have  these  "fightings 
without,"  it  is  theirs  to  suffer,  at  least  occasionally,  "  fears 
within."  The  enemy  thrusts  sore  at  them,  and  fills  them 
with  a  sort  of  unutterable  anxiety.  With  the  Psalmist 
they  are  often  forced  to  exclaim,  "  O  my  God,  my  soul  is 
cast  down  within  me  !"  "  The  enemy  hath  persecuted  my 
soul ;  he  hath  smitten  my  life  down  to  the  ground  ;  he 
hath  made  me  to  dwell  in  darkness,  as  those  that  have 
been  long  dead."  And  while  reviewing  their  past  con- 
flicts, with  him  they  may  affirm,  "  The  sorrows  of  death 
compassed  me,  and  the  pains  of  hell  gat  hold  on  me :  I 
found  trouble  and  sorrow." 

Religion  was  never  designed  to  annihilate  the  sympa- 
thies of  our  common  nature  ;  but  to  control,  and  refine, 
and  sanctify,  and  elevate  them.  The  Christian  is  not, 
therefore,  nor  can  he  be,  an  indifferent  spectator  of 
what  is  occurring  in  the  world  around  him.  He  is  pained 
to  see  the  sufferings  of  his  fellow-men ; — to  see  the  sick- 
ness, and  poverty,  and  wretchedness,  and  bereavement, 
and  oppression,  which  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  part 
of  this  sin-stricken  and  distracted  orb.     For,  at  best, 

"  This  earth  is  a  sorrowful  stage, 
A  valley  of  Aveeping  and  wo ! 
Fi'om  childliood  to  garrulous  age, 
The  tear  uninvited  will  flow." 

Now,  in  view  of  all  this,  the  good  man  sympathetically 
"  groans." 

But  especially  is  he  pained  to  see  God  dishonored  by 


X.]        PRESENT  AND  FUTURE   STATE   OF  BELIEVERS.     161 

the  wickedness  of  the  world.  In  the  strongly  hyperboli- 
cal language  of  the  man  after  God's  own  heart,  he  is  often 
constrained  to  say,  "Rivers" — not  rUls,  or  brooks,  but 
rivers — "  of  waters  run  down  mine  eyes,  because  they  keep 
not  thy  law."  With  the  plaintive  Jeremiah,  he  exclaims, 
"  O  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a  fountain 
of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for  the  slain  of 
the  daughter  of  my  people !  O  that  I  had  in  the  wilder- 
ness a  lodging-place  of  wayfaring  men  ;  that  I  might  leave 
my  people  and  go  from  them !  for  they  be  all  adulterers, 
an  assembly  of  treacherous  men."  A  righteous  Lot  was 
vexed  every  day  with  the  filthy  conversation  of  the  wicked. 
And  it  is  with  deep  concern,  with  all  but  overwhelming 
anxiety,  that  the  Christian  now  sees  the  sabbath  profaned, 
the  ordinances  of  divine  appointment  despised,  the  holy 
name  of  God  blasphemed,  and  vice  and  immorality  tri- 
umphant in  the  world.  But  nothing  gives  him  greater  an- 
guish of  spirit  than  to  witness  the  backslidings  and  incon- 
sistencies of  those  who  profess  to  be  walking  in  the  ways  of 
righteousness.  Just  hear  the  language  of  that  profound 
philosopher,  that  acute  metaphysician,  that  devout  theolo- 
gian, St.  Paul,  in  view  of  the  dreadful  apostasy  and 
wicked  impenitence  of  his  countrymen :  "  I  say  the  truth 
in  Christ,  I  lie  not,  my  conscience  also  bearing  me  witness 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  I  have  great  heaviness  and  con- 
tinual SQrrow  in  my  heart.  For  I  could  wish  that  myself 
were  accursed  from  Christ,  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen 
according  to  the  flesh." 

And,  finally,  the  very  dissolution  of  this  earthly  house 
of  our  tabernacle  is  preceded,  as  well  as  attended,  with  in- 
conceivable and  unutterable  agonies.  It  were  an  endless 
task  to  specify  all  the  pains  "  that  flesh  is  heir  to."  Some 
bring  a  feeble  constitution  with  them  into  the  world,  and, 
from  their  own  experience,  hardly  know  what  the  word 
health  means.  But  even  the  most  robust  are  not  exempted 
from  bodily  pains  and  sufferings.  Now,  all  of  these  are 
precursors  of  death.  And  then  there  are  the  agonies  of 
death  itself — "the  pains,  the  groans,  the  dying  strife." 
Disease  invades  the  feeble  tenement.  We  feel  the  shock, 
and  try  to  avert  the  mortal  blow.  But  it  comes  with  a 
force  which  baffles  all  our  powers  of  resistance.  The 
springs  of  life  now  begin  to  fail.     Still  the  struggle  is  con- 


162     PRESENT  AND   FUTURE   STATE   OF  BELIEVERS.   [SER. 

tinued.  At  length,  a  leaden  coldness  passes  over  every 
part  of  tlic  animal  frame.  And  now  the  mortal  pang  is 
past — the  earthly  tabernacle  dissolved  ! 

II.  Such  is  human  life,  and  such  its  termination,  even 
to  the  people  of  God.  Let  us  now,  pursuant  to  the  train  of 
thouglit  at  first  indicated,  glance  at  their  future  state ;  that 
state  of  being  and  blessedness  which  awaits  them  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  mortality.  "  For  we  know  that  if  our 
earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we  have  a 
building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  wath  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens." 

But  what  is  meant  by  this  building  of  God,  this  house 
not  made  with  hands  ?  Whitby  and  some  other  distin- 
guished commentators  suppose  that  the  resurrection  body  is 
intended.  The  glorified  body  may  w^ell  be  called  a  "  habi- 
tation ;"  for  such  it  doubtless  will  be  for  the  deathless  spirit 
throughout  the  unwasting  ages  of  eternity.  But  the  re- 
ference in  the  text  seems  to  be  something  nearer,  some- 
thing to  be  found  at  death,  and  to  be  enjoyed  hefore  the  re- 
vival of  the  body.  Any  other  view  of  the  subject  would 
hardly  do  justice  to  the  apostle's  reasoning.  Certainly, 
St.  Paul  was  no  materialist.  Nor  did  he  believe  the  soul 
would  lie  dormant  with  the  body  in  the  grave  till  the 
morning  of  the  resurrection.  Of  this  the  whole  context 
bears  unequivocal  proof.  He  speaks  of  the  body  as  if  it 
did  not  even  belong  to  our  persons.  "  TFe,"  says  he,  "  that 
are  in  this  tabernacle  do  groan."  It  is  the  soul  that 
makes  the  man.  This,  though  in  the  body,  is  not  of  the 
body.  The  sjjirit  is  immaterial,  immortal,  and  capable  of 
endless  improvement.  At  death  the  believer  is  not  like  an 
ejected  tenant,  forced  out  of  his  present  dwelling,  without 
having  another  provided  for  his  reception.  One  is  already 
fitted  up  in  the  skies,  whither  the  Forerunner  has  for  him 
entered.  "  In  my  Father's  house,"  said  Christ  to  his  disci- 
ples, "are  many  mansions. — I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I 
will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  myself;  that  where 
I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also."  These  things  premised,  and 
keeping  up  the  figure  in  the  text,  we  remark, 

1.  The  saint's  future  residence  will  be  a  "  lioiise^^  and 
not  a  mere  "•  tahernadey  This  antithesis  is  strongly 
marked  in  the  text.     When  the  saint  gets  " home"  he  will 


X.]       PRESENT  AND  FUTURE   STATE   OF  BELIEVERS.     163 

have  no  further  use  for  the  tent ;  for  his  journey  will  be 
ended.  Besides,  a  residence  so  frail,  and  imperfect,  will 
then  be  wholly  unsuited  to  the  dignity  of  his  character ;  he 
will  want  a  "  temple,"  a  "  palace,"  a  "  mansion."  Such  a 
place  has,  accordingly,  been  prepared  for  him.  And  if  the 
beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  Athenian  Parthenon  were  the 
wonder  and  admiration  of  ages,  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens  ?  What 
though  the  architectural  moldings  of  that  splendid  edifice 
may  have  gUttered  in  the  sunbeams  with  brilliant  tints  of 
red  and  blue  ;  the  building  of  which  we  here  speak  is  illu- 
minated "  with  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb  dwelling  in 
the  midst  of  it."  And  if  the  former  was  made  of  Pentelic 
marble,  the  latter  is,  according  to  the  testimony  of  John, 
composed  of  "  pure  gold,"  and  "  all  manner  of  precious 
stones." 

As  the  "  house "  of  which  the  text  speaks  is  to  be  the 
palace  of  the  great  King,  as  well  as  the  future  residence  of 
the  saints,  it  will  doubtless  correspond  as  well  to  the  glory 
of  the  one,  as  to  the  elevation  and  perfection  of  the  other. 
God  dwelt  figuratively  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  and 
had  the  chambers  of  his  priests  surrounding  him  on  every 
side  ;  but  he  dwells  visibly  in  this  heavenly  house,  and  is 
gradually  collecting  within  its  walls  all  the  countless  my- 
riads of  his  saints,  and  will  make  them  for  ever  minister- 
ing and  rejoicing  priests  around  his  throne. 

Thus  "  clothed  upon  with  their  house  from  heaven,"  their 
bliss  will  be  perfect.  They  will  find  the  powers  of  their 
minds  vastly  enlarged,  their  faculties  more  vigorous,  their 
imaginations  more  expanded,  and,  above  all,  the  principle 
of  love  more  active.  Introduced  into  this  heavenly  habi- 
tation, they  will  rejoice  in  a  happy  deliverance  from  their 
former  frail  and  sorrowing  tabernacle.  And  what  a  bliss- 
ful change  will  this  be  to  the  saints  of  God ! — a  change 
from  death  to  life,  from  affliction  and  distress  to  the  most 
unmingled  joys,  from  a  sick  and  fainting  body  to  a  mansion 
of  glory,  from  a  state  of  corruption  to  a  state  the  most 
holy  and  refined  ;  in  a  word,  from  earth  to  heaven. 

2.  To  give  us  still  higher  conceptions  of  the  saint's  fu- 
ture residence,  the  apostle  denominates  it  "  a  building  of 
God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands."  God  is  its  builder 
and  maker. 


164    PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.  [SER. 

We  may  now  see  sometliing  of  the  skill  of  the  supreme 
Architect  in  the  worlds  that  surround  us.  In  the  great  out- 
lines of  nature,  which  art  cannot  reach,  and  where  the  ut- 
most efforts  of  man  would  have  been  utterly  ineffectual,  God 
himself  has  finished  everything  with  amazing  magnificence, 
grandeur,  and  beauty.  Where  are  harmony  so  perfect, 
and  symmetry  so  exact,  and  sublimity  so  apparent,  as  in 
the  works  of  the  Almighty  ?  The  heavens  and  the  earth, 
with  all  their  grand  and  complicated  appendages,  exhibit 
in  the  most  striking  manner  the  infinite  power,  wisdom, 
and  goodness  of  Him  "  who  spake  and  it  was  done,  com- 
manded and  it  stood  fast."  But  on  the  heavenly  mansion 
there  will  be,  so  to  speak,  a  still  greater  expenditure  of 
these  attributes  of  the  Deity.  And  if  eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,  nor  the  heart  of  man  conceived,  the  things 
which  God  hath  laid  up  for  them  that  love  him, — who 
would  think  of  comparing  the  architectural  skill  of  Ictinus 
or  Callistratus  with  that  of  Him  who  "  built  all  things  ?" 
"  Our  God  is  the  rock ;  Ms  work  is  perfect."  Here  no- 
thing is  wanting,  nothing  redundant,  r.othing  out  of  place. 
As  it  is  a  building  of  God,  it  bears,  and  will  eternally 
bear,  the  stamp  of  his  own  infinite  perfection. 

3.  Where  this  "house"  is  we  know  not,  only  that  it  is 
"in  the  heavens."  We  are,  indeed,  taught  to  consider 
heaven  as  a  state,  rather  than  as  a  place.  Still,  from 
several  passages  of  Scripture,  we  have  reason  to  conclude 
that  there  is  some  portion  of  the  universe  set  apart  to  be 
the  special  residence  of  the  King  Immortal ;  that  there  is, 
somewhere  within  the  boundaries  of  the  creation,  a  glorious 
place  where  Christ  in  his  human  form  now  lives  and 
reigns,  and  where  he  will,  eventually,  assemble  all  the 
happy  intelligences  of  the  whole  universe.  Here — 
wherever  it  is — stands  the  habitation  of  the  saints,  the 
dwelling-place  of  those  who  have  come  up  out  of  great 
tribulation,  who  have  washed  their  gai'ments,  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 

4.  And  here  they  are  to  dwell  for  ever.  "  Eteimal  in 
the  heavens,"  is  the  language  of  the  text.  Theirs  is  a 
habitation  which  all  the  force  in  the  universe  cannot 
move,  and  which  the  wasteless  ages  of  eternity  itself  can- 
not destroy.  Apart  from  the  presence  and  the  smiles  of 
God,  this  is,  perhaps,  the  crowning  circumstance  of  all. 


X.]       PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.        165 

"A  perpetuity  of  bliss — is  bliss."  Everything  on  earth 
is  in  a  state  of  fluctuation  and  change.  "  Here  we  have 
no  continuing  city."  All  is  mortal,  mutable,  uncertain. 
One  generation  passeth  away,  and  another  cometh.  The 
busy  tribes  of  men  are  changing  their  positions  like  swarms 
of  insects  floating  in  the  atmosphere,  blown  about  and 
scattered  by  every  wanton  gale.  Even  the  purest  and  most 
permanent  enjoyments  of  which  the  present  state  is  capa- 
ble are  liable  to  many  interruptions.  But  in  heaven  all 
is  immortal,  all  ever-during.  Indeed,  could  its  blissful 
inhabitants, 

"  So  rich  in  rapture,  fear  an  end, 
That  ghastly  thought  would  drink  up  all  their  joy. 
And  quite  unparadise  the  realms  of  bliss." 

But  no  such  fear  exists.  They  know  that  their  happi- 
ness is  as  permanent  as  the  throne  of  God,  and  that  it  will 
be  as  lasting  as  eternity  itself.  For  now,  emphatically, 
"  mortality  is  swallowed  up  of  life." 

III.  Such,  then,  is  the  present  state,  and  such  the  future, 
of  true  believers.  It  remains  that  we  consider,  in  the  third 
place,  the  desire  they  feel  to  be  freed  from  the  one,  and 
to  enjoy  the  other.  "  Earnestly  desiring,"  says  the  apostle, 
"  to  be  clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from  heaven." 

1.  The  desire  for  immortality  is,  perhaps,  common  to 
the  species.  All  wish  to  live  for  ever.  "  None  but  the 
wretch  who  has  degraded  himself  below  the  character  of 
immortality,"  as  Mr.  Addison  forcibly  observes,  "  is  very 
willing  to  resign  his  pretensions  to  it."  Such  a  one  desires 
annihilation,  simply  because  he  dares  not  to  be  immortal ! 
But  in  coming  to  this  state,  he  does  violence  to  his  own 
moral  nature.  God  made  man  to  exist  for  ever,  and  gave 
to  his  soul  a  propensity  corresponding  to  his  immortal  des- 
tination. He  loves  being,  and  dreads  the  extinction  of  it. 
Thus  it  has  been  with  the  great  majority  in  all  ages. 
Greece  and  Rome  give  to  the  fact  their  joint  testimony. 
As  a  specimen  of  what  might  be  quoted  to  almost  any 
extent,  take  the  following  instance  from.  Marcus  TuUius 
Cicero,  the  most  eloquent,  if  not  the  most  profound,  of  all 
the  Roman  philosophers.  In  his  well-known  dream  of 
Scipio,  he  beautifully  observes,  "  If  I  were  now  disengaged 
from  my  cumbrous  body,  and  on  my  way  to  Elysium" — 


166     PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.     [SER. 

the  place  where  his  countrymen  supposed  the  virtuous 
would  dwell  after  death — "  and  some  superior  being  should 
meet  me  in  my  flight,  and  make  me  the  offer  of  returning, 
and  remaining  in  my  body,  I  should,  without  hesitation, 
reject  the  offer:  so  much  rather  w^ould  I  go  to  Elysium, 
to  be  with  Socrates,  and  Plato,  and  all  the  ancient  worthies, 
and  spend  my  time  in  conversing  with  them." 

Not  only  did  Socrates,  and  Plato,  and  Xenophon,  hope 
to  live  after  death,  and  enjoy  a  state  of  felicity  superior  to 
anything  earth  could  give  ;  but  the  same  hope  was  in- 
dulged even  by  the  masses  of  their  benighted  countrymen. 
Reasoning  from  this  common  propensity,  Greek  and  Roman 
philosophy  reached  the  same  general  conclusion :  it  was, 
that  man  ivould  live  for  ever.  This  argument  is  stated 
strongly  Jby  a  celebrated  writer  of  the  last  century,  whose 
language  Ave  have  just  had  occasion  to  quote.  He 
says,— 

"  Whence  tliis  pleasing  Lope,  tliis  fond  desire, 
This  longing  after  immortality  ? 
Or  whence  this  secret  dread  and  inward  hoiTor 
Of  falling  into  naught  1    Why  shrinks  the  soul 
Back  on  herself,  and  startles  at  destruction  ? 
'Tis  the  divinity  that  stirs  within  us : 
'Tis  heaven  itself  that  points  out  an  hereafter, 
And  intimates  eternity  to  man." 

2.  But  what  was  a  mere  matter  of  hope,  or  rather  of 
desire,  with  the  heathen,  is,  with  the  Christian,  a  matter 
of  revelation.  On  a  subject  of  such  infinite  importance 
he  is  not  left  to  the  teachings  of  a  mere  earth-born  philo- 
sophy. He  "^woz^5,"  on  authority  which  can  never  be 
called  in  question,  that  there  is  a  state  of  existence  beyond 
the  grave.  Of  this  glorious  truth  he  has  the  most  ample 
and  satisfactory  assurance.  The  sacred  Avritings  have  fur- 
nished all  the  evidence  for  which  he  could  reasonably  ask. 
With  the  Christian,  then,  it  is  not  a  point  of  speculation 
or  conjecture  whether  there  be  a  God  who  will  honor  his 
people  with  eternal  hfe.  It  comes  to  him  authenticated 
by  the  most  explicit  averments  of  Him  who  is,  by  his  own 
designation,  "the  truth" — the  truth  itself. 

It  is  important  that  we  further  remark,  in  this  con- 
nection, that,  though  the  light  of  nature  and  the  dictates 
of  reason  might  be  sufficient  to  authorize  the  presumption 


X.]       PRESENT  AND  FUTUKE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.        167 

that  man  will  exist  after  the  dissolution  of  his  earthly 
tabernacle,  it  is  the  Bible  which  tells  us— "Verily,  there  is 
a  reward  for  the  righteous"— a  reward  of  inconceivable 
glory  and  of  endless  duration.  So  that  here  again,  when 
the  light  of  reason  utterly  fails  us,  revelation  comes  in  to 
our  aid.  It  points  to  an  eternity  of  the  most  pure  and 
exalted  felicity,  to  be  enjoyed  as  the  sequence  of  a  pious 
and  virtuous  life.  Its  teachings  on  this  point  are  most  ex- 
plicit and  satisfactory.  Christ  said  to  his  disciples,  "  If  I 
go  away,  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  my- 
self; that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also."  "Verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  there  is  no  man  that  hath  left  house,  or 
parents,  or  brethren,  or  wife,  or  children,  for  the  kingdom 
of  God's  sake,  who  shall  not  receive  manifold  more  in  this 
present  time,  and  in  the  world  to  come  life  everlasting." 
"These"— the  wicked— "  shall  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment ;  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 

3.  Besides,  the  pious  have  an  experimental  knowledo-e 
of  divine  thmgs.  They  have  actually  tasted  of  the  good 
word  of  God  and  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come.  God 
has  given  them,  as  the  apostle  phrases  it  in  the  fifth  verse, 
"the  earnest  of  the  Spirit."  Being  united  by  a  living 
faith  to  Him  "  who  only  hath  immortality,"  they  feel  as- 
sured of  an  eternal  residence  with  him  in  the  kingdom  of 
God.  So  much  of  heaven  is  already  enjoyed  by  anticipa- 
tion, nay,  by  actual  participation,  that  to  doubt  its  reality, 
would  be  to  doubt  their  own  experience,  their  own  per- 
sonal consciousness.  With  St.  Paul  they  can  say,  "I 
hioiu  whom  I  have  beheved,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is 
able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  against 
that  day."  Standing  with  him  on  the  eminence  of  Ifaith, 
and  surveying  both  worlds,  they  triumphantly  exclaim, 
"  I  am  now  ready  to  be  oifered,  and  the  time  of  my  de- 
parture is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight ;  I  have 
finished  my  course;  I  have  kept  the  faith:  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which 
tlie  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day : 
and  not  to  me  only,  but  to  all  them  also  that  love  his  ap- 
pearing." Like  the  saints  of  old,  "  they  desire  a  better 
country,  even  a  heavenly."  The  late  President  Fisk, 
when  dying,  said  to  his  wife,  "  The  soul  has  an  energy  of 
its  own ;  and  so  far  from  my  body  pressing  my  soul  down 


168     PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.     [SER. 

to  the  dust,  I  feel  as  if  my  soul  had  almost  power  to  raise 
my  body  upward,  and  bear  it  away ;  and  it  will  at  last,  by 
the  power  of  God,  effectually  draw  it  to  heaven ;  for  its 
attractions  are  thitherward." 

Now  this  desire  for  heaven,  my  brethren,  is  not  natural 
to  us.  So  long  as  we  remain  in  an  unrenewed  state,  we 
know  nothing  of  tliis  earnest  longing  to  be  transferred 
from  an  earthly  house  to  "  the  palace  of  angels  and  God." 
All,  indeed,  know  that  they  must  die,  and  all  wish  to  go  to 
heaven  when  they  die.  But,  mark  you,  this  wish  does  not 
spring  from  a  strong  desire  to  be  in  the  presence  of  God, 
and  to  take  part  in  the  lofty  employments  and  spiritual 
services  of  the  heavenly  temple  ;  but  solely  from  a  con- 
viction that  there  are  but  two  places  for  the  reception  of 
disembodied  spirits  ;  namely,  heaven  and  hell :  and  they 
wish  to  go  to  the  former,  because  they  have  a  dread  of  the 
latter.  They  desire  to  go  to  heaven,  because  they  do  not 
wish  to  endure  the  pains  of  hell.  If  they  could  only  re- 
main here  for  ever,  they  would  be  perfectly  contented,  and 
quite  willing  that  heaven  should  be  peopled  from  some 
other  world.  Only  let  them  enjoy  the  riches,  and  honors, 
and  pleasures  of  earth,  and  they  would  gladly  leave  to  the 
angels  the  honors  and  joys  of  the  heavenly  kingdom. 
Others  may  talk  of  heaven,  and  say  they  wish  to  go  there ; 
but  the  renewed  Christian  is  the  only  man  in  the  world 
who  understands  the  nature  of  its  joys,  and  habitually  and 
earnestly  desires  a  place  in  its  courts.  He,  and  he  only, 
feels  that  "  while  he  is  at  home  in  the  body,  he  is  absent 
from  the  Lord." 

4.  But  though  the  Christian  desires  heaven,  he  does  not 
desire  death.  "  Not,"  says  the  apostle  in  the  fourth  verse, 
"  that  we  would  be  unclothed."  There  is  nothing  in  death, 
abstractly  considered,  that  is  desirable.  The  dying  ago- 
nies, the  pale  and  lifeless  corpse,  the  gnavving  worms,  the 
process  of  decomposition,  and  all  the  other  revolting  ac- 
companiments of  the  king  of  terrors,  cannot  be  viewed, 
even  by  the  most  pious,  with  any  sort  of  complacency. 
To  them,  as  well  as  to  others,  death  is  an  "  enemy."  But 
when  regarded  in  connection  with  its  blessed  results,  when 
viewed  as  "  the  gate  to  endless  joy,"  death  then,  to  the 
good  man,  becomes  even  desirable.  In  the  midst  of  his 
earthly  toils  and  conflicts,  and  in  view  of  the  joys  that 


X.]       PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.        169 

await  him  beyond  the  grave,  he  "groans"  to  be  delivered 
from  the  one,  and  to  enjoy  the  other :  he  is  anxious  to  de- 
part and  be  vyith  Christ,  which  he  considers  far  better  than 
the  best  possible  earthly  enjoyments. 

The  subject  suggests  several  reflections,  with  some  of 
which  we  shall  close. 

1.  We  should  bless  God  for  the  gospel.  It  is  this  that 
brmgs  life  and  immortality  to  light.  The  heathen  rather 
hoped  that  they  should  lire  for  ever,  than  confidently  be- 
lieved It  would  be  so.  Philosophy  might  aid  faith  in  this 
matter,  but  could  never  give  birth  to  it.  And  then  if  the 
existence  of  man  after  death  were  placed  beyond  a  doubt, 
It  would  be  a  source  of  no  comfort  to  him  without  the  as- 
surance that  that  existence  would  be  a  happy  one;  an 
assurance  this,  wliich  nothing  but  the  gospel  can  give 
him.  Without  its  teachings,  as  well  as  an  interest  in  its 
gracious  provisions  and  promises,  we  should,  "  through  fear 
of  death,"  like  the  heathen  of  old,  "  be  all  our  lifetime  sub- 
ject to  bondage."  But  the  Christian  revelation  brings  to 
the  mind  the  much-needed  demonstration.  It  is  this  that 
gives  birth  to  that  faith  which  is  "  the  substance  of  thino-s 
hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen."  And  to 
this  faith  we  are  indebted  for  all  that  is  cheering  in  the 
prospect  of  a  future  state. 

"  Faith  builds  a  bridge  across  the  gulf  of  death, 
To  break  the  shock  blind  nature  cannot  shun, 
And  lands  thought  smoothly  on  the  further  shore. 

Death's  terror  is  the  mountain  faith  removes 

That  mountain  barrier  between  man  and  peace. 

'Tis  faith  dreams  destruction,  and  absolves 

From  every  clamorous  charge,  the  guiltless  tomb." 

2.  But  then  the  gospel  will  be  powerless,  so  far  at  least 
as  our  individual  salvation  is  concerned,  if  its  provisions 
be  not  properly  received.  Indeed,  in  this  case,  it  will  only 
''damn  us  to  a  deeper  hell  "—only  render  our  condition  in 
a  future  state  the  more  intolerable.  For  while  it  is  writ- 
ten, "  He  that  believeth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved  " 
His  also  written,  "  He  that  beHeveth  not  shall  be  damned.'" 
Fearful  words  to  the  impenitent  and  unbelieving !  Christ 
is  the  resurrection  and  the  life:  but  to  participate  in  the 
bhss  of  his  everlasting  kingdom  ;  to  live  and  reign  with  him, 
we  must  now  be  united  to  him  by  a  true  and  living  faith ; 

8 


170     PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.     [SER. 

and  thence  experience  the  renovation  of  our  whole  moral 
nature.  All  that  is  desirable  in  immortality  hinges  upon 
this.  To  die  without  personal  faith,  involves  nothing  less 
than  a  sudden  encounter  of  almighty  vengeance — the  utter 
ruin  of  a  being  originally  made  only  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels.  Candidate  for  immortality  !  fly  to  the  Saviour 
— fly  to  the  Rock  cleft  to  take  you  in — fly  for  refuge  to 
lay  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  you  in  the  gospel ! 

"  Believe,  and  show  the  reason  of  a  man ! 
Believe,  and  taste  the  pleasures  of  a  God ! 
Believe,  and  look  in  triumph  on  the  tomb !" 

3.  The  subject  should  diminish  our  attachment  to  things 
earthly,  and  increase  our  desires  for  things  heavenly.  The 
former  are  mutable,  fading,  perishing;  the  latter,  perma- 
nent, enduring,  eternal.  Man  should  estimate  himself, 
chiefly,  in  view  of  his  immortality.  It  is  this  that  gives 
consequence  and  dignity  to  his  very  being.  For  if  his 
existence  did  not  extend  beyond  the  contracted  limits  of 
mortality,  he  might,  with  the  utmost  fitness,  practically 
adopt  the  Epicurean  maxim,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for 
to-morrow  we  die."  But  the  immortality  of  his  nature 
once  admitted,  and  it  gives  a  fresh  interest  in  all  that  re- 
lates to  his  character  and  destiny.  See  man  rising  in  the 
scale  of  being  !  This  is  only  the  commencement  of  his 
existence,  the  vestibule  of  life,  the  starting  point  of  an 
interminable  journey.  He  is  to  live  for  ever  in  the  height 
of  happiness,  or  in  the  depth  of  misery.  How  little,  then, 
should  he  think  of  this  world — how  much  of  the  next ! 

"  The  sold  of  man,  (let  man  in  homage  bow 
Wlio  names  his  soul,)  a  native  of  the  skies, 
High-born,  and  free,  his  freedom  should  maintain 
Unsold,  unmortgaged  for  earth's  little  bribes. 
The  illustrious  stranger,  in  this  foreign  land, 
Like  strangers,  jealous  of  her  dignity. 
Studious  of  home,  and  ardent  to  return, 
Of  earth  suspicious,  earth's  enchanted  cup 
With  cool  reserve  light  touching,  should  indulge 
On  immortality  her  godlike  taste  ; 
Then  take  larger  drafts,  make  her  chief  banquet  there." 

4.  If  such  is  the  result  of  death,  let  not  the  good  man 
be  afraid  to  die.  There  are  many  who  look  at  death  sim- 
ply in  the  pain  that  it  inflicts,  and  tremble  with  fearful 
apprehension.      Many,  doubtless,  fall  into   the  embraces 


X.]      PRESENT  AND  FUTURE   STATE  OF  BELIEVERS.  171 

of  death  with  almost  as  little  physical  sujQfering  as  is 
rienced  by  those  who  give  themselves  up  to 

"  Tired  nature's  sweet  restorer,  balmy  sleep." 

But  were  the  last  conflict  ever  so  distressing,  "  'twere 
useless  to  die  a  thousand  deaths  in  dreading  one."  In  a 
professing  Christian,  especially,  such  a  feeling  is  wholly 
out  of  character.  His  faith  should  be  more  than  a  match 
for  death,  even  in  its  most  horrid  forms.  The  religion  of 
Christ  is  now  just  what  it  used  to  be.  It  has  lost  none  of 
its  power.  Again  "  it  will  stop  the  mouths  of  lions,"  and 
again  "  quench  the  violence  of  fire."  The  God  of  the 
martyrs  is  our  God.  And  especially  should  we  look  be- 
yond death  to  the  house  not  made  with  hands,  and  regard 
the  dissolution  of  our  tabernacle  as  a  mere  incident  in  the 
consummation  of  our  hope.  Listening  to  the  songs  sung 
before  the  throne,  and  feeling  that  Christ  gives  victory 
over  the  last  enemy,  the  saint  need  not  hesitate  to  indulge 
the  aspirations  of  the  poet : — 

"  O  when  will  death,  (now  stingless,)  like  a  friend, 
Admit  me  of  their  choir  ?     O  when  will  death 
This  mold'ring,  old  partition-wall  throw  down, 
Give  beings  one  in  nature  one  abode  ? 
O  death  divine,  that  giv'st  us  to  the  skies ! 
That  readmitt'st  us,  through  the  guardian  hands 
Of  elder  brethren,  to  our  Father's  throne." 

o.  Finally,  let  us  not  mourn  for  those  who  have  left  an 
earthly  house,  and  have  gone  to  inhabit  the  one  eternal  in 
the  heavens.  Their  sufferings  are  ended,  their  bliss  is 
perfect.  The  Lamb  that  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  now 
feeds  them,  and  leads  them  to  living  fountains  of  waters. 
Sorrow,  and  pain,  and  care,  and  temptation,  are  unknown 
in  the  place  of  their  residence.  Dwelling  in  the  heavenly 
temple,  they  are  companions  of  the  wisest  and  holiest  beings 
that  ever  lived.  Every  wish  is  gratified — every  desire 
fulfilled.  Why,  then,  mourn  for  them  ?  Why  sorrow  that 
they  are  taken  away  from  the  evil  to  come  ?  We  may  be 
painfully  sensible  of  our  own  loss,  but  to  grieve  on  their 
account  would  be  inconsistent  with  every  just  view  of  the 
heavenly  world.  Let  us  rather  prepare  to  join  them  in 
their  lofty  employment,  and  "  wish  ourselves  away "  to  the 
habitations  of  the  blessed. 


172  PRAYER.  [SER. 

SERMON  XI. 
Prayer —  Outline  of  an  Argument  for  its  Institution, 

BY  REV.  ABEL  STEVENS,  A.M., 

EDITOR   OF   ZION's   HERALD   AND   WESLEYAN   JOURNAL. 

"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God :  I  will  yet  for  this  be  inquired  of  by  the 
house  of  Israel,  to  do  it  for  them." — ^Ezek.  xxxvi,  37. 

If  our  world  had  rolled  on  until  this  date  in  its  present 
depravity,  and  that  agony  of  wo  which  yet  overspreads  it ; 
and  if  it  had  possessed  a  less  perfect  revelation,  one  which 
afforded  a  true  knowledge  of  its  lost  condition,  and  the 
awful  character  of  God,  but  no  notion  of  access  to  him  by 
prayer,  through  the  merits  of  an  atonement :  if  it,  at  this 
moment,  were  in  such  a  state,  trembling  under  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  without  daring  to  look  up  unto  him,  groping 
through  a  half-illumined  darkness,  in  which  the  realities 
of  present  wretchedness  could  be  seen,  but  not  the  hopes 
of  future  relief ;  what  would  be  the  effect  of  a  proclamation 
made  convincingly  to  the  whole  earth — say  by  an  apparition 
of  angels  in  the  firmament,  as  once  on  the  plains  of  Beth- 
lehem, that  on  a  given  day  God  would  hear  pi^ayer,  and 
that  supplication,  offered  on  terms  practicable  to  all,  should 
secure  any  blessing  truly  appropriate  to  man,  and  should 
avail  for  the  blessedness  of  the  suppliant,  even  through 
everlasting  ages  ?  What  amazement  and  exultation  would 
such  an  event  spread  through  the  world  !  How  would  the 
hours  which  were  yet  to  precede  that  day  be  counted ! 
How  would  the  friends  of  the  sick,  by  the  virtue  of  medi- 
cines, and  by  tender  cares,  try  to  preserve  the  flickering 
existence,  that  the  dying  beloved  one  might  pray  before 
he  departed,  and  the  aged  and  despairing  who  have  longed 
for  the  grave,  seek  to  prolong  their  lives  to  the  auspicious 
morning !  Surely  such  a  proclamation,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, would  be  like  the  trump  of  resurrection  to  the 
saints ;  and  the  emotions  of  mankind  would  be  like  those 
of  the  despairing  lunatic,  when  some  beautiful  dream  de- 
ludes his  sleep,  and  mingles  smiles  and  tears  on  his  hag- 
gard countenance.     Would  any  sleep  the  last  night  which 


XI.]  PRAYER.  173 

was  to  precede  it  ?  Would  not  the  house-tops,  the  hills, 
and  the  mountain  sides,  be  thronged  with  the  multitudes 
anxious  to  see  the  first  rays  of  that  jubilee  of  the  world  ? 
And  what  a  sight  would  the  sun  of  that  day  witness  in  his 
course  around  the  earth,  of  prostrate,  grateful,  imploring 
millions ! 

Such,  it  is  probable,  would  be  the  effect  of  novelty  in  a 
privilege  which,  now,  JDecause  it  is  always  at  our  command, 
is  reluctantly  im^^roved  by  many,  and  utterly  rejected  by 
most.  How  absurd,  as  well  as  guilty,  is  sin !  How  valua- 
ble, though  unvalued,  the  privileges  of  the  gospel !  A  lost 
spirit  would  give  all  worlds  to  be  placed  in  the  probation- 
ary position  of  a  living  sinner  for  one  hour ;  and  if  the  hope 
of  salvation  were  to  be  limited  to  one  day  instead  of  being 
continued  through  years ;  if,  in  other  words,  it  were  cer- 
tainly known  that  to-morrow  was  to  be  the  judgment,  the 
sun  of  this  day  would  go  down  amid  the  tears  and  prayers 
of  the  world. 

Yet,  independently  of  such  illustrations,  and  depreciated 
as  the  privilege  of  prayer  is  by  our  desultory  famiHarity 
with  it,  to  what  thoughtful  mind  does  it  not  present  itself 
as  one  of  the  most  wonderful  and  precious  institutions  of 
religion !     Let  us  contemplate  it  this  morning. 

We  propose  to  show  the  excellency  of  prayer 
as  an  institution  of  our  holy  religion. 

I.  Prayer  is  a  ^'reasonable  service.""  This  can  be  best 
shown  by  examining  those  speculative  objections  which 
have  been  preferred  by  skeptics  against  it.  Let  us  con- 
sider some  of  them. 

One  is.  That  prayer  is  inconsistent  with  the  divine  om- 
niscience. "  If  God  knows  your  wants,  and  your  dispo- 
sition to  have  them  supplied,  why  inform  and  importune 
him  in  prayer  ?"  The  objection  proceeds  from  a  misappre- 
hension of  the  design  of  prayer.  Its  ostensible  design  is 
indeed  the  attainment  of  the  blessing  for  which  we  pray ; 
but  there  is  an  ulterior  and  higher  object  for  which  it  was 
appointed,  namely,  the  spiritual  influence,  the  disciplinary 
effect  of  the  habit.  The  objection  would  apply  equally  to 
the  other  departments  of  God's  economy.  He  could  make 
bread  grow  spontaneously,  or  drop  manna  from  heaven, 
but  he  requires  man  to  toil  for  his  sustenance,  and  this 
necessity  of  labor  is  no  curse,  but  a  blessing ;  it  is  a  source 


174  PRAYER.  [SEE. 

of  health,  and  vigor,  and  cheerfuhiess.     Excessive  toil,  the 
"  sweat  of  the  face,"  was  the  curse  pronounced  at  the  fall, 
but  the  first  man  was  appointed  to  "dress"  and  "keep" 
the  "  garden  of  Eden."     God  could  have  constituted  the 
human  mind,  so  that  its  improvement  might  be  natural,  not 
the  result  of  protracted  study ;  but  he  has  not,  and  why  ? 
Because  he  saw  it  would  be  good  for  man  to  co-operate 
with  himself  in  procuring  improvement  and   happmess. 
The  analogy  applies  equally  to  religion,  to  prayer.     Our 
text  is  an  example ;  after  predicting  to  Israel  certain  mer- 
cies, God  still  declares,  "I  will  yet  for  this  be  mquired  of 
by  the  house  of  Israel,  to  do  it  for  them."     He  knew  their 
need  of  these  mercies,  he  compassionated  their  necessity, 
he    had   power   to   confer  them   all  unconditionally,  yet 
yearnmg  over  his  chosen  people  with  the  solicitude  of  a 
father,  he  still  refused  them  the  promised  mercy,  unless 
« inquired  of  by  the  house  of  Israel  to  do  it  for  them." 
And  why  ?    Solely  because  he  saw  the  condition  would  be 
salutary  to  them ;  it  would  remind  them  of  their  depend- 
ence upon  him,  it  would  bring  them  into  direct  communion 
with  himself,  and  thus  the  moral  effect  would  be  a  greater 
blessing   than   the  particular   mercies   presented   as   the 
objects  of  their  prayers.     Hence  it  is  that  prayer  is  made 
the  condition  of  our  spiritual  mercies — it  is  that  our  hea- 
venly Father  may  doubly  bless  us — ^bless  us  with  the  mer- 
cies sought,  and  in  the  process  of  seeking  them. 

Man's  measures  contemplate  usually  but  a  specific  ob- 
ject, God's  contemplate  many  at  once.  The  apparent 
design  of  the  sun  is  to  illuminate  the  world,  "  to  rule  the 
day ;"  but,  on  closer  examination,  this  is  found  to  be  only 
one  among  many  of  its  agencies — while  it  enlightens,  it  also 
beautifies  nature  with  coloring ;  it  is  essential  to  vegeta- 
tion; it  varies  the  seasons;  it  sustains  in  harmonious 
motion  the  machinery  of  our  whole  system.  So  in  God's 
moral  economy,  manifold  results,  ostensible  and  ulterior, 
are  accomplished.  Thus  it  is  with  prayer.  The  objection, 
I  repeat,  is  founded  in  a  short-sighted  view  of  the  design 
of  the  institution — a  view  which  stops  short  of  its  ulterior 
purpose. 

2.  Another  objection  alledges  that  prayer  is  inconsistent 
with  God's  immutaUlity.  "  Why  entreat  and  importune 
him  ?     You  cannot  change  his  immutable  nature."     This 


Xli]  PRAXEK.  175 

objection  is  founded  in  a  misapprehension  of  the  divine 
immutability.  In  what  consists  the  immutability  of  God  ? 
I  answer,  God  is  immutable  in  the  principles  of  his  admin- 
istration, but  not  in  his  acts.  There  was  a  period  when 
he  did  not  create,  one  when  he  did  create,  and  another 
when  "  he  rested  from  all  his  work  which  he  had  made  :" 
he  changed  in  act,  but  not  in  nature.  He  is  probably  still 
putting  forth  his  mighty  power  throughout  the  universe, 
creating  and  dissolving  worlds,  but  he  is  the  same  God, 
"  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever."  Our  adventitious 
circumstances  may  lead  to  various  manifestations  of  the 
divine  attributes,  but  their  nature  never  varies.  In  heaven 
our  God  "is  the  light  thereof;"  on  earth  he  is  the  Sa- 
viour of  the  world  ;  in  hell  he  is  a  consuming  fire ;  yet  in 
heaven,  earth,  and  hell,  he  is  the  same  God  from  eternity 
to  eternity.  The  laws  protect  you  to-day  because  you 
conform  to  them,  to-morrow  they  may  put  you  to  death  for 
transgressing  them ;  not  because  they  change — the  change 
is  in  yourself.  So  the  sinner  is  heard  if  he  truly  prays, 
but  lost  if  he  prays  not ;  yet  God  does  not  change,  it  is  his 
ordained  economy  that  it  should  be  so.  And  this  economy 
is  founded  in  his  immutable  wisdom. 

3.  It  is  objected  again  that  the  universe  is  governed  hy 
secondary  causes;  and,  in  order  that  prayer  should  bring 
about  results  different  from  what  would  take  place  without 
it,  there  must  he  an  interference  with — a  suspension  of — 
those  fixed  causes  ;  hut  there  is  no  such  interference.  I 
have  three  remarks  to  make  on  this  objection.  The  first 
is,  that  it  applies  to  prayer  only  so  far  as  physical  blessings 
are  concerned,  for  these  alone  are  affected  by  physical 
causes.  All  the  spiritual  objects  of  prayer  belong  to  that 
moral  economy  of  which  prayer  itself  is  a  component  part, 
and  which,  by  its  relation  to  the  voluntary  agency  of  both 
God  and  man,  is  not  subject  to  the  fixed  laws  that  are  ne- 
cessary to  a  physical  mechanism,  like  the  natural  world. 
Still  it  is  admitted  that  physical  blessings  are  legitimate 
objects  of  prayer.  Our  "daily  bread"  is  enumerated  by 
our  Lord  among  them.  The  rains,  the  harvest,  the  restora- 
tion of  the  sick,  the  safety  of  the  wayfarer  on  the  sea  or 
on  the  land,  are  subjects  of  its  blessed  efficacy.  I  remark, 
secondly,  that  the  objector  is  incompetent  to  the  assump- 
tion, that  there  is  no  divine  interference  with  fixed  causes 


176  PRAYER.  [SER. 

in  answer  to  prayer.  How  does  he  know  it  ?  And  how 
can  he  assert  it  against  God's  own  assertion  if  he  is  incom- 
petent to  know  it  ?  The  great  Newton,  after  all  his  amaz- 
ing discoveries,  considered  himself  only  as  a  child  playing 
with  bubbles  on  the  seashore,  while  the  fathomless  ocean 
lay  unexplored  before  him.  The  objection  assumes  that 
we  see  the  whole  series  of  causes  and  effects ;  but  that  se- 
ries, extending  from  the  effect  which  we  observe  up  to  the 
first  cause,  is  immense,  and  loses  itself  at  last  in  infinity — 
the  infinity  of  the  great  First  Cause.  What  know  we  of 
the  universe,  that  we  can  presume  to  pronounce  what  does 
or  what  does  not  take  place  amidst  the  vast  occult  machi- 
nery ?  He  who  made  its  frame  is  also  the  Author  of  its 
moral  economy.  Shall  we  assume  that  he  has  not  har- 
monized the  two  systems  where  they  come  into  mutual  re- 
lations near  his  own  throne,  because  our  limited  vision 
cannot  penetrate  thither  ?  But,  thirdly,  I  remark  it  is  not 
necessary  to  assume  that  there  is  any  rupture  of  natural 
causes  in  the  case.  We  notice  but  the  lowest  Imks  in  the 
chain  of  those  causes ;  how  then  can  we  assume  that  the 
higher  ones  are  not  adapted  or  controlled  so  as  to  meet 
this  peculiarity  of  the  moral  system  ?  The  last  link  of  the 
series  is  in  the  hand  of  Omnipotence.  Why  may  not  the 
divine  energy  be  transmitted  down  through  the  whole  with 
varied  results,  and  yet  with  no  interruption  of  the  succes- 
sive links  ;  as  the  electric  power  passes  with  quickening  or 
destroying  influence  to  the  object  at  the  end  of  the  chain, 
without  visible  effect  on  the  intermediate  links  ?  Man's 
own  contrivances  often  exhibit  this  capability.  Behold  the 
mighty  machinery  of  the  steamer:  the  effect  of  a  man's 
hand  can  reverse  its  course,  and  carry  the  immense  struc- 
ture backward,  without  a  collision  of  the  works ;  and  can- 
not the  Maker  of  the  world  so  control  his  works  as  to 
bring  about,  without  confusion,  results  different  from  what 
our  little  minds  judge  necessary  to  the  instruments  which 
he  has  appointed?  The  objection,  therefore,  is,  in  the 
first  place,  founded  upon  a  gratuitous  assumption ;  and,  in 
the  second  place,  it  is  inapplicable,  even  if  the  assumption 
were  just. 

4.  Another  objection  is,  marCscompai^ative  insignificance. 
"  Can  it  be  supposed  that  the  infinite  God  will  stoop  from 
amid  all  worlds  to  regard  our  wants  and  prayers  ?"     The 


XI.]  PKATER.  177 

objection  includes  two  elements, — the  insignificance  of  man 
and  the  greatness  of  the  Deity.  The  first  is  a  mere  fal- 
lacy. Man  is,  indeed,  physically  insignificant,  but  not 
morally  nor  intellectually.  It  is,  perhaps,  no  hyperbole  to 
say,  that  one  planet  compared  with  the  rest  of  the  uni- 
verse is  but  as  a  drop  of  water  compared  with  one  planet ; 
and  the  millions  of  men  upon  the  one  are  but  as  the  mil- 
lions of  animalculse  in  the  other.  But  man's  importance 
inheres  in  his  intellectual  and  moral  relations  and  destinies, 
and  in  these  respects  all  physical  worlds  are  but  dust  in  the 
balance  compared  with  the  lowliest  spirit  that  lifts  up  its 
suppliant  voice  to  God.  That  spirit  is  related  to  God's 
angels ;  it  has  even  in  its  ruin  one  attribute  in  common 
with  the  Deity  himself — it  is  everlasting.  And  on  this 
spirit  God  has  impressed  a  law  of  indefinite  progress, 
which,  when  considered  in  connection  with  the  eternity 
assigned  for  its  development,  gives  it  an  appalling  gran- 
deur. The  instinct  of  the  brute  attains  to  a  limited  capa- 
city ;  its  race  remains  now  where  it  was  three  thousand 
years  ago,  and  will  thus  remain  till  the  end  of  time ;  but 
man  knows  no  such  limit ;  he  advances  till  he  is  summoned 
to  other  worlds,  and  his  successive  generations  still  carry 
forward  the  tasks  left  incomplete  by  their  predecessors. 
Both  his  intellectual  and  moral  constitution  imply  his 
capacity  for  indefinite  growth.  Who  then  can  attempt  the 
stupendous  inference  of  his  future  greatness  ?  Weakest 
and  most  imbecile  of  all  living  creatures  at  his  birth,  in  a 
few  years  he  masters  all  others,  controls  the  elements  by 
his  arts,  and  by  his  science  transcends  his  own  sphere  to 
survey  kindred  worlds.  This  he  does  amid  innumerable 
impediments,  physical,  mental,  and  moral.  What  then 
must  be  his  progress  in  his  purely  spiritual  sphere  ?  It  is 
not  improbable  that  an  hour's  exercise  of  his  faculties 
there  will  unfold  them  more  than  the  labor  of  a  life 
here. 

This  most  impressive  view  of  the  human  spirit  gives  to 
your  soul  an  importance  which  is  sublime  and  even  terri- 
ble. The  impulse  of  almighty  God  is  upon  you,  and  it 
will  carry  you  forward  for  ever  and  ever.  The  bark  of 
your  fate  is  drawn  resistlessly  in  the  wake  of  a  destiny 
which  will  sweep  on  while  the  stars  fall,  and  suns  waste 
into  nothingness,  even  unto  endless  ages !     And,  corres- 

8* 


178  PRAYER.  [SER. 

pondent  with  this  destiny  will  be  the  growth  of  your 
capacity  for  happiness  or  wo. 

Startling,  but  inevitable  inferences,  press  upon  us  from 
this  view  of  our  destiny.  The  period  will  come  when  the 
feeble  child,  Avhose  intelligence  scarcely  reaches  the  limits 
of  its  nursery,  will  stand  forth  somewhere  in  the  universe 
mightier  in  mind  than  the  tallest  archangel  that  shines 
amidst  "the  excellent  glory."  It  may  never  reach  that 
angel,  for  he  also  will  advance  for  ever,  but  it  will  reach 
his  present  position  and  pass  it,  and  leave  it  in  the  distance 
behind  as  a  fading  point  of  light.  The  time  will  come 
when  that  new-born  spirit,  now  unequal  in  intelligence 
to  the  insect  that  perishes,  will  mount  up  as  on  eagles' 
wings,  will  range  through  unknown  worlds,  will  bow  it- 
self amidst  the  light  of  God's  own  throne,  and  may  even 
transcend  the  present  capacity  of  all  created  intelHgence. 
Only  God  is  infinite ;  all  other  intelligence  in  the  universe 
has,  therefore,  a  present  limit,  but  there  is  no  limit  to  the 
capacity  of  that  dawning  spirit.  No  finite  mind  may  be 
able,  even  in  imagination,  to  measure  the  present  dimen- 
sion of  created  intellect  in  the  universe  ;  but  God  can,  and 
if  he  were  to  define  its  boundary,  yet  the  infant  soul  which 
he  is  at  this  moment  casting  into  that  ocean  of  intelligence, 
will  extend  the  ever  widening  circle  of  its  capacity,  till  it 
reaches  that  limit,  and  in  some  solemn  hour,  amid  the  far- 
off  ages  of  the  future,  it  will  pass  over  that  limit,  and  still 
swell  onward  toward  infinity. 

Such  is  the  soul  of  man,  and  hence  is  it  that  the  God- 
head deemed  it  befitting  to  become  incarnated  for  its  re- 
demption ;  hence  the  spiritual  world — heaven  and  hell — is 
represented  as  in  conflict  for  its  fate  ;  hence  those  appalling 
words,  "  What  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the 
whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?" 

With  such  views,  or  if  these  be  deemed  too  hypothetical, 
yet  with  any  approximation  to  them,  what  becomes  of  the 
objection  drawn  from  man's  insignificance,  or  the  objection, 
substantially  the  same,  to  the  atonement,  deduced  from  the 
discoveries  of  astronomical  science  ?* 

Let  us  pass  to  the  next  element  in  the  objection — the 
greatness  of  the  Deity.  "  Can  it  be  supposed  that  the  infi- 
nite God  will  stoop  from  amid  all  worlds  to  regard  our 
*  See  Chalmers'  Sermons,  on  the  latter  objection. 


XI.]  PRAYEK.  179 

wants  and  prayers  ?"  Yes,  the  greatness  of  God,  the  very 
ground  of  the  objection,  is  the  ground  of  our  confidence. 
God  is  infinite;  were  he  finite,  however  great,  there 
might  be  plausibility  in  the  objection.  Then  it  might  be 
supposed  that  his  attention  would  be  so  absorbed  in  the 
more  general  affairs  of  the  universe,  as  to  exclude  from  it 
entirely  our  minute  interests,  but  infinite  greatness  implies 
that  the  small  as  well  as  the  great,  the  minutice  as  well  as 
the  aggregate — that  all  things  are  comprehended  by  it. 
Were  there  a  particle  of  sand  not  pervaded  by  God's 
presence,  then  he  would  not  be  omnipresent.  Did  the 
smallest  animalculae  escape  his  cognizance,  then  he  could 
not  be  omniscient ;  his  Godhead  would  be  destroyed. 
Whatever  falls  short  of  the  infinite,  falls  infinitely  short  of 
it.  The  arrow  that  misses  the  mark  by  the  distance  of  an 
inch,  misses  it  as  really  as  if  by  a  hundred  feet.  I  repeat, 
infinite  knowledge  implies  the  cognizance  of  not  merely 
the  universe  at  large,  but,  definitely,  of  every  minute  thing 
in  it.  The  sigh  of  penitence  that  goes  up  from  a  dying 
bed,  in  the  lowliest  hovel,  or  from  the  dungeon  of  the 
prisoner,  enters  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  God  of  Sabbaoth, 
amid  the  hallelujahs  of  all  the  heavens.  And  from  the 
constitution  of  his  infinite  mind,  it  must  be  noticed  by 
him,  as  distinctly  as  if  it  were  the  only  sound  in  his  uni- 
verse. It  is  as  much  the  necessity  as  it  is  the  mercy  of 
God's  nature,  that  a  sparrow  cannot  fall  to  the  ground 
without  his  notice.  Thus,  then,  these  four  speculative 
difficulties  vanish,  and  prayer  may  be  affirmed  to  be  a 
reasonable  exercise. 

II.  Prayer  is  a  salutary  exercise.  It  is  so,  in  the  first 
place,  because  it  is  the  meafis  of  the  blessings  prayed  for. 
Faith  is  the  condition  of  salvation  ;  it  is  faith  that  is  im- 
puted for  righteousness :  yet  prayer  is  the  expression,  the 
vehicle  of  faith ;  prayer  is  the  wing  on  which  faith  rises  to 
the  mercy-seat.  The  affirmation  is  as  true  in  regard  to 
prayer,  as  it  is  in  regard  to  faith,  that  no  responsible  sin- 
ner has  ever  been  saved  without  it.  God  has  not  made  it 
one  of  the  conditions  of  salvation,  yet  it  is  an  inseparable 
appliance  to  those  conditions. 

Prayer  is  an  exercise  of  universal  applicability.  Our 
physical  circumstances  are  to  be  relieved  or  hallowed  by  it. 
Are  we  destitute  ?     We  are  taught  by  Christ  to  pray  for 


180  PRAYER.  [SEE. 

"  our  daily  bread,"  and  the  Psalmist  assures  us  that  "  He 
will  regard  the  prayer  of  the  destitute."  Have  we  abun- 
dance ?  It  is  to  be  "  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and 
prayer ;"  and  thus  every  meal  is  to  become  a  sacrament. 
"  Is  any  afflicted  ?  let  him  pray,"  says  St.  James.  It 
applies  to  our  intellectual  wants.  "  If  any  of  you  lack 
wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  and  it  shall  be  given."  It 
applies,  above  all,  to  our  spiritual  necessities  :  "  Whosoever 
shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved  :"  and 
summarily,  "  men  ought  always  to  pray  ;"  to  "  pray  without 
ceasing ;"  to  "  pray  everywhere,  lifting  up  holy  hands  with- 
out wrath  and  doubting."  In  the  second  place,  its  disci- 
plinary effect  is  salutary.  We  have  already  viewed  this 
aspect  of  the  subject,  but  it  is  worthy  of  another  glance. 
"  We  find,"  says  a  distinguished  writer,  "  from  the  whole 
course  of  nature,  that  God  governs  the  world  not  by  inde- 
pendent acts,  but  by  a  connected  system.  The  instru- 
ments which  he  employs  in  the  ordinary  works  of  his 
providence  are  not  physically  necessary  to  his  operations. 
He  might  have  acted  without  them  if  he  pleased.  He 
might,  for  instance,  have  created  all  men  without  the  inter- 
vention of  parents.  But  where  then  had  been  the  bene- 
ficial connection  between  parents  and  children,  and  the 
numerous  advantages  resulting  to  human  society  from  such 
connections  ?  The  difficulty  lies  here :  the  uses  arising 
from  the  connections  of  God's  acts  may  be  various ;  and 
such  are  the  pregnancies  of  his  works,  that  a  single  act 
may  answer  a  prodigious  variety  of  purposes.  Of  these 
several  purposes  we  are  for  the  most  part  ignorant; 
and  from  this  ignorance  are  derived  our  weak  objections 
against  the  ways  of  his  providence  ;  while  we  foolishly 
presume  that,  like  human  agents,  he  has  but  one  end  in 
view."  Now  the  effect  of  prayer,  aside  from  its  particular 
object,  may  be  among  these  "  several  j^urposes."  How 
can  it  fail  to  be  thus  salutary,  when  the  first  impression  it 
gives  the  mind  is  that  of  dependence?  If  our  spiritual 
blessings  were  not  conditional,  but  matters  of  course,  like 
the  blessings  of  light,  air,  or  water,  we  would  forget,  as  the 
world  has  in  regard  to  the  latter,  the  merciful  agency  of 
God  in  conferring  them.  Prayer,  therefore,  tends  to  hu- 
mility.  Gratitude,  likewise,  is  produced  by  it  in  the  same 
manner ;  for  every  blessing  received  in  answer  to  it,  comes 


XI.]  PRAYEK.  181 

to  US  as  a  gratuity  of  the  divine  mercy.  There  is  no  vir- 
tuous aiFection  with  which  it  is  not  congenial.  It  is  serene, 
tranquilizing,  spiritualizing.  How  invigorating  is  it  to  the 
spirit  thus  to  commune  with  God,  and  refresh  itself  with 
the  light  of  his  countenance,  in  the  secrecy  of  prayer  at 
early  dawn,  before  committing  itself  to  the  duties  and  per- 
ils of  the  day  !  How  tranquilizing  in  the  midst  of  these  cares 
and  perils  to  retire  at  noon  to  the  hallowed  solitude  of  the 
closet,  and  re-collect  its  scattered  thoughts  and  energies ! 
How  congenial  with  the  evening  hour  of  rest  to  bow  itself 
again  in  His  presence,  and  imploring  pardon  for  its  imper- 
fections, and  a  blessing  on  its  deeds,  sink  into  peaceful 
slumbers,  invoking  benedictions  on  itself  and  all  men ! 
How  blessed  to  supplicate  blessings  on  our  enemies  !  How 
endearing  become  all  the  ties  of  life  ! — their  joys  and  their 
sorrows  are  consecrated  by  mutual  prayers.  How  precious 
the  tender  affections  of  parents  and  children,  of  brothers 
and  sisters,  whose  home-life  is  thus  imbued  with  the  sanc- 
tity and  consolation  of  religion  ;  and  how  do  the  memories 
of  such  a  home  follow  its  members,  when  dispersed  over 
the  world,  with  salutary  lessons  and  holy  sympathies,  pant- 
ing for  reunion  in  heaven !  Assuredly,  an  institution  which 
imparts  sanctity  to  ordinary  life,  cementing  its  affections, 
purifying  its  joys,  relieving  its  sorrows,  and  assuaging  its 
passions,  commends  itself  to  us  as  one  of  the  most  salutary 
ordinances  of  our  religion,  and  worthy  of  the  interest  at- 
tached to  it  by  an  apostle,  who  "  exhorts,  therefore,  that 
first  of  all  supplications,  prayers,  intercessions,  and  giving 
of  thanks,  be  made  for  all  men,"  "that  we  may  lead  a 
quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  all  godliness  and  honesty.-"  It 
cannot  consist  with  sin.  "  Prayer,"  says  one,  "  will  make 
us  either  cease  sinning,  or  sin  make  us  cease  praying." 

III.  Prayer  is  a  consolatory  exercise.  Man  has  a  moral 
nature.  His  moral  faculties  are  as  distinguishable,  and  as 
constitutional,  as  his  physical  or  intellectual.  His  most 
perfect  happiness  consists  in  the  due  gratification  of  all  his 
faculties.  But  most  of  mankind  limit  this  gratification  to 
the  physical  nature.  A  few,  "  of  soul  more  elevate,"  add 
the  pleasures  of  intellect.  Yet  the  highest  demand  of  our 
nature  remains  unanswered.  The  greatest  monsters,  not 
only  of  crime,  but  of  misery,  have  been  sensualists  ;  and 
the  highest  intellectual  powers  have  aided  only  in  removing 


182  PRAYER.  [SER. 

the  illusions  of  worldly  pleasure,  and  overclouding  the 
soul  with  disgust  and  despair,  so  that  a  philosopher  has 
said,  that  "  a  fool  may,  but  a  philosopher  cannot,  be  a 
happy  man."  Our  moral  wants  are  our  largest,  and  most 
urgent  ones,  and  their  neglect  explains  the  existence  of 
wretchedness  amid  every  other  gratification — in  the  pa- 
lace as  well  as  the  hovel,  with  the  sovereign  and  the  sage, 
as  well  as  the  pauper  and  the  slave.  There  is  a  higher 
gratification  than  that  of  sense ;  there  is  a  higher  exercise 
than  that  of  thought.  It  is  the  satisfaction  of  the  con- 
science and  the  exercise  of  the  heart.  God  made  man  for 
intercourse  with  himself;  all  other  exercises  and  enjoy- 
ments were  to  be  but  secondary  to  this.  Prayer  is  the 
means  of  this  intercourse ;  its  language  is  the  converse  of 
this  communion. 

But  it  is  consolatory  in  a  second  sense.  It  is  a  source 
of  aid  and  security.  The  supplicating  accents  of  prayer 
are  authoritative  to  command  for  our  aid  the  very  attri- 
butes of  the  Deity.  Prayer  is  the  eloquence  that  persuades 
God.  Wliat  would  be  the  consciousness  of  a  man  in- 
vested with  the  attributes  of  the  Almighty — omniscience 
to  discern  every  danger,  omnipotence  to  avert  it,  and  a  ca- 
pability of  universal  presence  to  exert  everywhere  liis  wis- 
dom and  power  for  his  interests !  How  fearlessly  would 
he  throw  himself  on  every  emergency  !  How  tranquilly 
walk  through  every  peril !  Now  the  Christian  has  not 
these  attributes,  but  his  God  has,  and  that  God  pledges 
their  interference  for  him,  in  answer  to  prayer,  in  every 
case  where  their  interference  v/ill  be  for  his  interests,  that 
is,  in  every  case  where  the  Christian  would  exercise  them 
himself,  were  he  possessed  of  them.  He  may,  therefore, 
feel  as  secure  as  if  the  powers  of  the  Godhead  were  at  his 
command !  These  poAvers  may  allow  him  to  suffer,  but 
no  more  than  he  himself  would  allow,  if  he  had  infinite  wis- 
dom to  discern  the  propriety  of  such  suffering.  How  sub- 
lime a  spectacle  is  the  praying  man  in  this  light !  The 
stars  may  fall,  and  the  worlds  pass  away,  but  he  is  safe, 
for  the  power  which  dissolves  them,  supports  him.  A  de- 
vout mind,  constant  in  the  habit  of  prayer,  may  acquire 
such  a  lively  sense  of  the  immediate  presence  and  sympathy 
of  God  as  to  exult  in  the  most  trying  danger,  and  be  almost 
superior  to  even  the  instinctive  fears  of  human  nature. 


XI.]  PRATER.  .  183 

IV.  Prayer  is  a  sublime  exercise.  The  reach  of  a 
mighty  mind,  transcending  the  discoveries  of  ages,  and 
evoking  to  view  new  principles  or  new  worlds,  is  sublime. 
Kewton's  discoveries,  pushing  human  comprehension  higher 
in  the  series  of  natural  causes  and  effects,  were  sublime. 
But  there  may  be  a  progress  remaining,  compared  with 
which,  his  discoveries,  as  he  said  himself,  are  like  the 
bubble  compared  with  the  ocean.  But  prayer  sweeps  over 
all  secondary  causes,  and  lays  hold  on  the  first  cause ;  it 
bends  not  its  flight  to  repose  its  wing,  and  refresh  itself 
amid  the  light  of  undiscovered  worlds,  but  rises  above  stars 
and  suns,  until  it  bathes  its  pinions  in  the  light  of  "  the  ex- 
cellent glory."  To  control  the  tremendous  force  of  the  el- 
ements, and  reduce  them  to  the  servility  of  mechanical 
operations,  is  a  sublime  achievement.  Men  can  thereby 
float  in  palaces  on  seas,  carried  by  whirlwinds  over  fleeing 
mountains,  or  drive  carriages,  burdened  with  armies, 
through  valleys  and  through  hills,  without  animal  effort, 
and  as  swift  almost  as  light.  But  what  is  the  control  of 
the  elements  compared  with  the  ability  of  prayer  to  call 
down  the  powers  of  heaven,  and  summon  the  agency  of 
angels  ?  It  would  be  a  circumstance  of  great  sublimity  for 
a  man  to  be  able  to  transmit  his  thoughts  to  a  distant 
planet,  and  hold  communion  with  its  inhabitants ;  but 
prayer  aspires  above  all  worlds,  and  communes  with  the 
Infinite  Mind.  It  rises  above  every  subordinate  reliance^ 
and  stops  not  till  it  throws  itself  into  the  embrace  of  the 
Father  of  all.  One  of  the  indirect  but  salutary  effects  of 
prayer  arises  from  this  sublime  ascension  of  the  soul  above 
all  things  limited  or  caused,  to  the  infinite.  It  approaches 
God ;  it  stops  only  when  all  things  else  are  lost  from  view, 
and  the  effulgence  of  Divinity  alone  shines  "  above,  be- 
neath, around."  The  mind  cannot  but  imbibe  sublimity 
from  such  a  scene.  A  praying  man  ought,  indeed,  to  be 
sublime — sublime  in  his  sentiments  and  in  his  purposes  ; 
he  holds  perpetual  intercourse  with  all  grandeur.  If  the 
study  of  greatness,  in  its  historical  examples  ;  if  association 
with  living  men  of  greatness  ;  if  the  intercourse  of  arch- 
angels, could  tend  to  enlarge  and  elevate  our  sentiments, 
how  much  more  ought  the  habitual  contemplation  and 
communion  of  God  to  improve  us  !  The  devout  mind,  gaz- 
ing thus  incessantly  on  Him  in  whose  presence  archan- 


184  PRAYER.  [SEE. 

gels  gather  strength,  and  bow  with  awe,  cannot  but  grow 
mighty  and  sublime,  and  may  go  forth  from  the  sanctuary 
of  prayer  reflecting  the  brightness  of  his  countenance,  like 
Moses,  when  the  corrupt  myriads  fell  back  appalled  as  he 
came  down  from  the  "  mount  of  communion." 

CONCLUSION. 

1.  These  views  should  lead  us  to  estimate  prayer  as  a 
privilege,  not  merely  as  a  duty.  How  would  it  detract 
from  the  Christian  system,  if,  with  all  its  other  provisions, 
it  were  destitute  of  this  single  feature  !  If  the  privilege 
of  conversing  with  God  in  prayer  were  confined  to  one  in- 
dividual on  our  earth,  with  what  a  dignity  and  awe  would 
it  invest  him  among  mankind !  with  what  reverence  would 
they  contemplate  him  !  with  what  entreaties  and  treasures 
would  they  implore  his  supplications !  He  would  stand 
before  the  world  higher  than  all  sages  or  sovereigns.  But 
this  inestimable  privilege  is  yours  individually.  Is  it  a 
less  gracious  provision  because  it  is  allowed  to  all  ? 

2.  Our  interest  in  it  may  be  considered  a  criterion  of  our 
piety.  Religion,  in  its  highest  sense,  is  communion  with 
God ;  prayer  is  the  mode,  the  speech  of  this  communion. 
Would  we  enter  the  presence  of  royalty  with  negligence  ? 
Would  we  address  a  benefactor,  who  has  rescued  us  from 
destruction,  with  heartless  accents  ?  Would  we  gaze  on 
the  effulgent  form  of  an  angel  without  emotion  ?  How, 
then,  can  we  look  up  unto  Him  whom  our  sins  have  pierced 
without  emotion,  or  address  Him  with  indifference,  "  from 
whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heavens  shall  flee  away,  and 
no  place  be  found  for  them  ?"  Alas  for  that  imbecility  of 
our  fallen  nature,  which,  by  the  very  frequency  of  our  pri- 
vileges, renders  them  desultory  if  not  irksome  ! 


XII.]  DRAWING   NEAR    TO   GOD.  185 

SERMON  XII. 
Drawing  near  to    God. 

BY  T.  A.  MORRIS,  D.  D., 

ONE   OF  THE   BISHOPS  OF  THE   M.   E.   CHURCH. 

"  Let  us  draw  near  with  a  true  heart,  in  full  assurance  of  faith, 
having  our  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience,  and  our  bodies 
washed  with  pure  water." — Heb.  x,  22. 

The  author  of  this  epistle  designed  to  prove  to  the 
Jews  that  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God,  the  promised  Mes- 
siah :  that  he  was  the  Mediator  of  a  better  covenant,  one 
founded  on  better  promises,  or  promises  of  more  excellent 
things,  than  the  old  covenant;  and,  consequently,  that 
Christianity  was  preferable  to  the  Jews'  religion.  Having 
completed  the  argument,  and  established  his  doctrine,  he 
turns  his  attention  to  exhortation,  which  he  introduces  by 
presenting  a  summary  view  of  the  privileges  of  the  Chris- 
tian believer:  "Having  therefore,  brethren,  boldness  to 
enter  into  the  holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  by  a  new  and 
living  way,  which  he  hath  consecrated  for  us  through  the 
veil,  that  is  to  say,  his  flesh."  Heb.  x,  19,  20.  The  term 
boldness  here  is  to  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  liberty.  The 
Jew  had  Hberty  to  enter  the  most  holy  part  of  the  temple 
once  a  year,  through  his  representative,  the  priest,  with 
the  blood  of  atonement ;  but,  under  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation, all  true  believers  may  constantly  come  into  the 
immediate  presence  of  God — not  by  the  legal  sacrifice,  but 
through  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  as  of  a  lamb  without 
spot  or  blemish.  The  Christian  comes  "by  a  new  and 
living  way ;"  new,  because  it  did  not  exist  till  Christ  estab- 
lished it  for  us,  and  living,  because  they  who  walk  therein 
live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God  here,  and  have  a  good 
hope,  through  grace,  of  living  for  ever  hereafter.  This 
way  of  life  was  "  consecrated  for  us,  through  the  veil,  that 
is  to  say,  his  flesh,"  or  in  other  words,  it  was  opened  up 
and  made  plain  before  us,  by  the  sacrificial  death,  tri- 
umphant resurrection,  and  glorious  intercession,  of  Jesus 
Christ.     The   apostle  continues  thus:    "And   having   a 


186  DRAWING  NEAll  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

high  priest  over  the  house  of  God."  The  house  of  God 
means  his  church,  or  family  of  believers,  whose  only  and 
all-sufficient  priest  is  Jesus,  who  offered  up  himself  as  their 
sin-atoning  sacrifice.  "  Seeing  then  that  we  have  a  great 
High  Priest,  that  is  passed  into  the  heavens,  Jesus  the  Son 
of  God,  let  us  hold  fast  our  profession.  For  we  have  not 
a  high  priest  which  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  our  infirmities :  but  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as 
we  are,  yet  without  sin."  Heb.  iv,  14,  15.  The  exhorta- 
tion in  the  text  is  founded  on  tlr'^  sncouraging  view  of  the 
"better  covenant,"  as  if  the  apostle  had  said,  in  view  of  all 
these  privileges  secured  to  the  Christian  believer,  "  Let  us 
draw  near  with  a  true  heart,  in  full  assurance  of  faith, 
having  our  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience,  and 
our  bodies  washed  with  pure  water."  Heb.  x,  22.  We 
shall  speak 

I.  Of  the  duty  here  enjoined. 

The  exhortation,  "  Let  us  draw  near  "  to  God,  implies 
that  we  are  far  from  him  ;  though,  in  one  view  of  the  case, 
he  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us.  Infinite  in  all  his  per- 
fections, God  fills  immensity,  is  everywhere  beholding  the 
evil  and  the  good.  Well  might  the  Psalmist  say,  "  Whither 
shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from 
thy  presence  ?  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there : 
if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there.  If  I 
take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  sea ;  even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and 
thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me.  If  I  say.  Surely  the  dark- 
ness shall  cover  me  ;  even  the  night  shall  be  light  about 
me."  Psalm  cxxxix,  7-11.  But  there  is  another  sense  in 
which  we  are  far  from  God,  namely,  in  regard  to  our 
condition  as  fallen  creatures,  M'hich  the  prophet  expresses 
thus:  "But  your  iniquities  have  separated  between 
you  and  your  God,  and  your  sins  have  hid  his  face  from 
you,  that  he  will  not  hear."  Isaiah  lix,  2.  To  draw  near 
to  God,  therefore,  in  the  sense  of  our  text,  is  to  seek  him 
in  the  use  of  the  appointed  means  of  grace,  that  we  may  be 
restored  to  his  favor  and  image,  and  enjoy  a  heartfelt  sense 
of  that  restoration.  And  here  we  shall  notice  some  of 
those  occasions  on  which  it  is  our  privilege  to  draw  near  to 
God  in  a  peculiar  sense,  as  believers  in  Christ. 

We  draw  near  to  God  when  we  engage  properly  in  the 


XII.]  DRAWING  NEAR  TO  GOD.  187 

solemn  exercises  of  pubic  worship.  We  do  not  mean  to 
say,  that  merely  attending  the  place  of  religious  worship  is 
an  acceptable  performance  of  this  duty,  for  we  may  possi- 
bly come  here  for  other  reasons  than  to  worship  God.  We 
may  attend  to  pass  off  a  tedious  sabbath,  to  see  a  public 
assembly,  to  have  agreeable  company  on  the  way,  or 
through  mere  curiosity  to  hear  a  strange  or  popular 
preacher.  Thus,  while  our  bodies  are  here,  our  minds  may 
be  like  the  fool's  eye,  wandering  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
But  we  mean  to  say,  if  we  come  to  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
as  such,  with  a  solemn  sense  of  our  responsibility  to  him, 
and  remain,  not  as  idle  spectators,  but  as  spiritual  wor- 
shipers ;  if  we  pray  with  the  spirit  and  with  the  understand- 
ing also ;  if  we  sing  with  the  spirit  and  with  the  under- 
standing also ;  if  we  speak  the  simple  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ, 
and  hear  as  in  sight  of  his  judgment-seat,  then  do  we  draw 
near  to  God  in  a  peculiar  sense,  and  he  draws  near  to  us. 

Again,  we  draw  near  to  God  when  we  engage  properly 
in  the  exercise  of  social  worship.  The  blessing  desired  by 
a  true  worshiper  does  not  depend  on  the  presence  of  a 
multitude,  as  the  Saviour  assures  us :  "  For  where  two  or 
thi-ee  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the 
midst  of  them."  Matt,  xviii,  20.  How  often  has  this 
blessed  promise  of  the  Saviour  been  verified  to  a  few 
brethren  met  in  his  name  to  pray  and  praise ;  or  in  class 
meeting,  to  commune  on  the  subject  of  religious  experience, 
where  the  discouragements  of  one  called  forth  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  others,  the  deliverance  of  one  from  sin  and 
unbelief  excited  the  joy  of  all,  and  where  they  mutually 
contributed  their  influence  to  build  each  other  up  in  their 
most  holy  faith!  The  delightful  spiritual  exercises  of 
these  social  meetings  often  lead  the  mind  to  contemplate 
the  heavenly  state  of  rest,  of  peace  and  love ;  and  are 
really  attended  with  a  foretaste  of  it,  while  Jesus,  in  fulfill- 
ment of  his  promise,  is  present,  in  the  power  of  his  Spirit, 
and  says,  "  Peace  be  unto  you."  Then  indeed  they  draw 
near  to  God,  and  he  draws  near  to  them. 

We  also  draw  near  to  God,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  when  we 
engage  properly  in  the  exercise  of  secret  devotion.  To  be 
associated  with  others  in  worshiping  the  Lord  is  pleasant 
and  profitable,  and  those  who  enjoy  the  privilege  should  be 
thankful ;  but  it  is  no  less  cause  of  gratitude  that  each  in- 


188  DRAWING    NEAR  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

dividual  may  for  himself  draw  near,  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 
Indeed,  secret  devotion  is  among  the  choicest  of  our  blood- 
bought  privileges.  It  affords  opportunity  for  self-exami- 
nation, and  for  the  full  expression  of  our  faults  and  fears, 
our  difficulties  and  sorrows,  our  wants  and  desires,  without 
restraint  or  embarrassment.  The  hour  of  secret  devotion 
is  an  honest  hour,  in  which  there  are  none  to  see  or  hear 
us  but  the  Searcher  of  hearts,  who  cannot  be  deceived,  and 
will  not  be  mocked,  but  who  is  ever  waiting  to  be  gracious 
to  such  as  confess  their  sins  with  sorrow,  and  throw  them- 
selves upon  his  mercy,  in  Christ  Jesus.  Private  devotion 
has  another  advantage,  from  its  frequent  recurrence.  The 
privileges  of  public  and  social  worship  are  only  occasional, 
but  secret  prayer  secures  "  our  daily  bread,"  and  affords 
the  faithful  Christian  constantly  "  meat  to  eat "  that  the 
world  knoweth  not  of.  Indeed,  many  of  his  nearest  ap- 
proaches to  the  mercy-seat,  and  the  brightest  manifesta- 
tions of  the  divine  presence  and  glory,  are  realized  in  the 
closet,  chamber,  or  grove,  where  he  worships  God  alone. 
We  come  now  to  notice 

II.  How  THIS  DUTY  MAY  BE  ACCEPTABLY  PER- 
FORMED. 

Having  spoken  of  some  of  the  occasions  on  which  we 
may  draw  near  to  God,  we  are  now  chiefly  concerned  as  to 
the  manner  of  performing  that  duty,  and  the  motives  and 
feelings  which  are  to  influence  us  therein.  To  draw  near 
"  with  a  true  heart,"  means  to  worship  God  with  sincerity, 
which  is  an  indispensable  ingredient  in  Christian  piety.  In- 
sincerity is  totally  irreconcilable  to  the  nature  of  saving 
faith.  How  can  I  have  any  confidence  that  a  thrice  holy 
God  can  hear  and  answer  my  prayer,  unless  I  first  per- 
suade myself  that  prayer  is  sincere  ?  It  is  morally  im- 
possible. "  If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will 
not  hear  me,"  is  as  true  now  as  it  Avas  in  the  days  of  David. 
But  do  not  confound  sincerity  with  worthiness :  that  is  an- 
other thing  altogether.  If  we  wait  for  a  blessing  at  the 
hand  of  God  till  we  are  worthy  of  it,  we  shall  die  unbless- 
ed, and  be  lost  for  ever.  We  have  nothing  to  plead  but  the 
worthy  name  of  Jesus,  and  we  need  no  other,  for  he  is  all- 
sufficient  ;  and  while  we  pray  in  his  name,  we  may  know 
ourselves  sincere,  however  unworthy.  A  man  may  know 
and  feel  that  he  has  been  a  great  sinner,  and  afterward  be 


XII.]  DRAWING  NEAR  TO  GOD.  189 

a  true  penitent ;  or  a  professor  of  religion  may  be  fully 
aware  of  his  past  unfaithfulness  and  present  unworthiness, 
and  yet  be  perfectly  sincere  at  present  in  his  confessions 
and  supplications,  and  therefore  "draw  near  with  a  true 
heart,  in  full  assurance  of  faith." 

Faith  is  confidence,  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as 
our  only  God  and  Saviour,  for  present  pardon,  continuous 
holiness,  and  everlasting  life.  The  assurance  of  faith  is  a 
firm  persuasion,  a  satisfactory  evidence,  that  God  does 
accept,  pardon,  save,  and  bless  us,  for  Christ's  sake ;  and 
this  firm  persuasion,  this  satisfactory  evidence,  arises,  not 
only  from  the  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises  of  liis 
word,  but  chiefly  from  the  direct  influence  of  his  Spirit, 
bearing  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  are  his  children. 
As  to  the  peculiar  phrase  in  the  text,  "  full  assurance  of 
faith,"  it  means  simply,  saving  faith  in  its  most  vigorous 
exercise,  so  as  to  exclude  all  doubt,  and  amount  to  moral 
certainty.  Whoever  can  say  with  the  apostle,  "  For  we 
know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dis- 
solved, we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens,"  (2  Cor.  v,  1,)  has  the  full 
assurance  of  faith.  Let  it  be  observed,  this  is  not  an 
assurance  founded  on  any  supposed  decree  of  election,  that 
we  shall  unconditionally  persevere  and  go  to  heaven,  whe- 
ther we  retain  faith  or  lose  it ;  but  it  is  simply  an  assur- 
ance that  God  now  accepts  us  in  Christ,  and  that  if  we  die 
in  this  state  v/e  shall  have  a  place  in  heaven.  We  have  no 
doubt,  therefore,  but  thousands  of  Christians  in  this  day 
have  all  that  the  text  means  by  the  "  full  assurance  of 
faith." 

"  Having  our  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience." 
We  need  not  dwell  on  the  term  heart,  which  here  means 
the  seat  of  the  afi'ections ;  nor  the  term  conscience,  mean- 
ing that  faculty  in  every  man's  breast  which  approves  him 
when  he  does  right,  and  condemns  him  when  he  does 
wrong,  according  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge.  But  we 
will  make  a  few  remarks  on  the  phrase,  "  an  evil  con- 
science," which  means  a  guilty  conscience,  one  polluted 
w^ith  sin.  Hence  the  strong  declaration  of  the  apostle, 
"  Even  their  mind  and  conscience  is  defiled."  What  is 
more  tormenting  to  any  man  above  ground  than  an  evil 
conscience  ?     There  are  some  evils  from  which  a  man  may 


190  DRAWING  NEAR  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

escape ;  but  shall  a  man  flee  from  a  guilty  conscience  ? 
As  well  might  he  endeavor  to  escape  from  his  shadow 
when  the  sun  is  shining.  Wherever  he  goes,  or  whatever 
he  does,  he  feels  self-reproach  and  a  sense  of  the  displea- 
sure of  the  Almighty.  By  night  and  noon  his  evil  con- 
science haunts  him,  like  a  demon  from  the  regions  of  dark- 
ness, so  that  he  proves  the  truth  of  the  declaration,  "  There 
is  no  peace,  saitli  the  Lord,  unto  the  wicked."  And  if  such 
be  the  state  of  the  sinner's  conscience  here,  what  will  be 
the  state  of  it  in  the  next  world,  where  he  reads  all  his  his- 
tory of  folly,  and  views  all  his  rebellious  conduct  in  the 
light  of  eternity  ?  There,  we  doubt  not,  every  motion  of 
his  conscience  will  be  like  the  gnawing  of  the  deathless 
worm,  or  like  the  vulture  rending  the  vitals.  But  it  is 
matter  of  thankfulness  that  we  are  not  there  yet ;  that  we 
are  still  the  subjects  of  offered  mercy,  living  in  a  gospel 
day  and  in  a  gospel  land,  favored  with  the  drawings  of  the 
Father,  the  strivings  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  intercessions  of 
the  Saviour.  Now  let  us  accept  the  call  of  grace,  yield  to 
the  overtures  of  dying  love,  be  sprinkled  from  an  evil  con- 
science, and  restored  to  the  favor  and  image  of  God,  that, 
like  the  apostle,  we  may  "  have  always  a  conscience  void 
of  offense  toward  God,  and  toward  men." 

"  And  our  bodies  washed  with  pure  v/ater,"  in  Christian 
baptism.  Many  have  received  this  in  infancy  and  child- 
hood. Those  who  have  not,  on  being  convinced  of  sin, 
and  becoming  penitent  believers  in  Christ,  should  separate 
from  the  world,  come  over  on  the  Lord's  side,  receive  the 
initiating  ordinance  of  baptism,  and  thereby  be  introduced 
to  all  the  means  of  grace.  As  to  the  mode  of  administer- 
ing, that  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  the  language  of  the 
text.  Water  baptism  is  an  outward  sign  of  the  inward 
grace  of  purification.  That  inward  grace  of  purification 
consists  in  "  having  our  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  con- 
science" with  the  blood  of  Jesus,  applied  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  through  faith ;  and  in  order  that  the  washing  of  the 
body  with  the  water  of  baptism  may  be  a  sign  thereof,  it 
should  be  applied  by  sprinkling  also.  "  A  word  to  the 
wise  is  sufficient." 

III.    A  FEW  BRIEF,  PRACTICAL  INFERENCES. 

The  first  inference  from  the  whole  subject  is,  whoever 
neglects  the  means  of  grace,  deprives  himself  of  religious 


XII.]  DRAWING  NEAR  TO   GOD.  191 

enjoyment.  Let  no  man  deceive  himself,  by  supposing 
that  he  can  willfully  and  habitually  neglect  the  public,  so- 
cial, and  private  worship  of  God,  his  ordinances  of  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  supper,  and  other  means  of  grace,  and  still 
retain  the  favor  of  the  Most  High.  He  who  is  destitute 
of  religion,  and  neglects  these  duties,  will  remain  destitute ; 
and  he  who  has  been  converted,  but  subsequently  neglects 
them,  will  forfeit  his  birthright,  with  all  its  enjoyments, 
and  "  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first." 
To  all  classes  who  persist  in  neglecting  religious  duties, 
the  Judge  will  say  at  the  last  day,  "  Depart  from  me,  ye 
that  work  iniquity." 

The  next  inference  is,  they  who  use  the  means  of  gi'ace 
will  profit  thereby.  The  prophet  Isaiah  said,  "  But 
they  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength ; 
they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles ;  they  shall  run,  and 
not  be  weary ;  and  they  shall  walk,  and  not  faint."  Isa.xl,  3L 
The  proper  way  of  waiting  on  the  Lord  is  to  use  diligently, 
perseveringly,  and  believingly,  all  the  means  of  his  ap- 
pointing, and  then  humbly  and  patiently  look  to  him  for 
the  end,  with  the  assurance  that,  though  he  does  not  bless 
us  for  the  use  of  the  means,  as  a  matter  of  merited  re- 
ward, he  delights  to  bless  us  in  the  use  of  them,  for  his 
Son's  sake.  While  we  use  the  means  constantly,  and  in 
faith,  we  shall  not  fail  to  grow  in  grace  and  in  the  know- 
ledge of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  This  may  explain  to 
the  irreligious  one  thing,  which  often  seems  strange  to 
them,  namely,  that  we  so  frequently  attend  the  house  of 
prayer.  We  need  "  our  daily  bread,"  but  cannot  expect 
to  receive,  unless  we  ask  for  it ;  nor  can  we  live  without 
it.  As  well  might  we  expect  to  keep  up  the  health  and 
vigor  of  the  body  without  daily  nourishment,  as  to  obtain, 
or  retain,  the  life  of  faith  in  the  soul,  Avithout  using  the 
means  of  gi'ace.  It  is  also  well  ascertained  by  experience, 
as  well  as  Scripture  testimony,  that  it  requires  the  same 
diligence  and  faith  to  retain  the  consolation  of  religion, 
that  it  does  to  obtain  it  in  the  first  instance.  "As  ye 
have  therefore  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk 
ye  in  him."   Col.  ii,  6. 

Finally,  we  infer  from  this  text,  what  is  elsewhere 
plainly  declared,  "  Draw  nigh  to  God,  and  he  will  draw 
nigh  to  you."      This   promise  of  James  is  given  by  in- 


192  DRAWING  NEAR  TO   GOD.  [SER. 

spiration,  and  may  be  safely  confided  in.  It  does  not  limit 
us  to  time,  place,  or  any  peculiar  outward  circumstances ; 
but  is  of  set  purpose  used  in  the  most  general  sense. 
Wherever,  whenever,  and  under  whatsoever  outward  cir- 
cumstances, we  lift  our  hearts  to  God  in  faith  and  prayer, 
with  humble  reliance  on  the  merits  of  Christ  only,  he  will 
manifest  himself  in  mercy  to  us,  as  he  does  not  unto  the 
world.  Though  the  Lord  is  specially  present  in  the  house 
where  prayer  is  wont  to  be  made,  he  is  everywhere  wait- 
ing to  be  gracious ;  and  is  often  found  by  his  praying 
people  amidst  the  busy  multitudes  that  throng  the  streets 
of  the  city,  and  in  the  silent  retreats  of  the  wilderness. 
He  often  reveals  the  light  of  his  reconciled  countenance 
to  his  believing  children,  not  only  in  the  great  congrega- 
tion, or  the  select  meeting  for  social  worship,  but  also  at 
their  daily  business,  and  sometimes  when  journeying  in  the 
mail  coach,  the  steamboat,  or  flying  cai*.  Now  suppose 
any  true  believer  should  claim  this  promise,  "  Draw  nigh 
to  God,  and  he  will  draw  nigh  to  you,"  and  plead  it  in 
faith,  determined  never  to  rest  until  it  is  verified  in  his 
case,  how  soon  would  he  be  filled  with  peace  in  believing 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost !  Then  that  man  would  have 
a  revival  of  the  work  of  God  in  his  own  soul.  Again, 
suppose  that  all  the  believers  in  any  given  place  should  go 
and  do  likewise,  then  they  would  all  have  a  revival.  They 
would  realize  the  precious  promise  of  the  Saviour,  "  Bless- 
ed are  they  Avhich  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness : 
for  they  shall  be  filled."  Matt,  v,  6.  And  when  the  hearts 
of  all  believers  are  thus  full  of  the  love  of  God,  what  can 
stand  before  them  ?  Trembling  Avould  seize  the  sinners  in 
Zion,  fearfulness  would  surprise  the  hypocrite,  the  seats  of 
iniquity  would  be  broken  up,  the  strongholds  of  sin  pulled 
down,  the  enemies  of  the  cross  would  surrender  at  once,  and 
plead  for  mercy,  God's  power  would  be  present  to  heal, 
and  souls  by  scores  and  hundreds  would  be  born  into  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  May  the  Lord  hasten  this  blessed 
work !     Amen. 


XIII.]  DIVINE   PROVIDENCE.  193 

SERMON    XIII. 

Divine  Providence. 

BY  REV.  CHARLES  K.   TRUE,  A.  M., 

OF  THE  NEW-ENGLAND  CONFERENCE. 

"  The  angel  of  the  Lord  encampeth  round  about  them  that  fear  him, 
and  delivereth  them." — ^Psalm  xxxiv,  7. 

There  was  a  notion  among  the  Jews,  and  prevalent  more 
or  less,  at  different  times,  among  Christians,  that  every 
saint  has  his  guardian  angel,  specially  commissioned  by 
God  to  attend  him  in  all  his  ways,  comfort  him  in  afflic- 
tion, and  protect  him  from  danger.  It  has  been  supposed 
by  some,  that  this  passage  gives  countenance  to  that  idea. 
I  know  that  the  Scriptures  teach,  in  general  terms,  that 
"  angels  are  ministering  spirits  sent  forth  to  minister  unto 
them  that  are  heirs  of  salvation ;"  but  I  suppose  the  pre- 
sent passage  is  designed,  according  to  the  peculiar  idiom  of 
the  Hebrew  language,  or  after  the  manner  of  Eastern 
poetry,  to  teach  a  higher  doctrine  than  the  ministry  of 
angels — that  of  the  special  providence  of  God.  Behold !  a 
greater  than  an  angel  is  here  !  The  almighty  God  him- 
self, with  his  unnumbered  instrumentalities,  visible  and 
invisible,  encampeth,  like  a  sentinel,  round  about  them 
that  fear  him,  and  delivereth  them. 

Skepticism  on  the  subject  of  divine  providence  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  all  our  impiety.  It  is  the  cause  of  short- 
comings and  deviations,  of  uneasiness,  impatience,  and 
fear,  of  murmurings  and  complainings,  of  meanness  and 
illiberality,  of  duplicity  and  unfaithfulness,  of  envy  and 
malice.  A  thorough  conviction  and  abiding  impression  of 
its  truth  is  essential  to  a  full  development  of  virtue,  and  a 
complete  finish  of  Christian  character. 

Your  attention,  therefore,  is  invited  to 

I.  A  BRIEF  DEFENSE ;  and 

II.  A  SCRIPTURAL  DEVELOPMENT,  OF  THE  DOCTRINE 
OF   THE    SPECIAL   PROVIDENCE    OF    GOD. 

I  shall  not  attempt  here  an  argument  with  atheists,  who 
deny  altogether  the   existence  of  God  ;  for,  if  we   may 

9 


194  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  [SER. 

believe  the  Psalmist,  they  have  taken  leave  of  reason : 
"The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God." 
Such  must  be  left  to  the  chastening  of  that  gracious  Pro- 
vidence which  they  deny,  until  they  are  brought  into  a  dif- 
ferent state  of- mind,  by  a  severe  experience  of  the  necessity 
of  this  innate  and  universal  idea  of  unperverted  reason. 

There  are  those  who  believe  in  God,  who  regard  him 
as  a  distant  spectator  of  his  creation.  Like  an  artist,  who 
has  contrived  a  watch,  or  other  ingenious  machine,  and 
hung  it  up  to  go  of  itself,  for  a  limited  time,  without  his 
interference,  the  Almighty,  they  suppose,  has  endued  the 
world,  the  whole  world  of  mind  and  matter,  with  establish- 
ed elements  and  processes,  and  left  it  to  the  guidance  and 
control  of  regular  laws.  They  not  only  affirm,  therefore, 
there  is  no  need  of  a  special  providence,  but  demand, 
w^hether  we  expect  the  regular  laws  of  nature  will  be  sus- 
pended, and  miracles  performed,  for  our  particular  benefit. 
We  answer,  that  we  expect  no  miracle  wrought  for  our 
deliverance,  when  we  call  upon  God  to  help  us  in  time  of 
trouble;  but  we  suppose  that  God  may  employ  the  ma- 
chinery he  has  created  to  bring  about  any  special  result 
within  its  capacity.  That  organ  has  given  forth  a  vast 
variety  of  melodies  and  harmonies  already,  but  under  the 
hand  of  genius  it  may  send  out  ten  thousand  more,  now 
unknown  and  unconceived — and  not  a  stop,  nor  a  key,  has 
been  added  or  altered.  Dr.  Chalmers,  in  a  sermon  preach- 
ed on  the  occasion  of  a  public  fast  in  Great  Britain,  an- 
swered this  question  by  saying,  that  for  aught  w^e  know, 
there  is  a  chain  of  causes  reverting  from  the  sphere 
of  our  immediate  observation  up  to  the  invisible  throne, 
and  the  Almighty  might  strike  any  one  of  the  links  re- 
moved from  human  sight,  and  thereby  operate  through 
every  intervening  link  to  accomplish  any  particular  pur- 
pose, within  the  range  of  our  experience — and  there  be  no 
knowledge  of  his  interference  only  by  its  blessed  results. 
We  pray,  and  we  receive  things  we  ask  for.  Thus  a 
widow,  knowing  her  son  at  sea  to  be  hovering  about  the 
coast  in  a  tempestuous  season,  may  go  into  her  closet  and 
pray  that  God  would  deliver  him,  without  expecting  a 
miracle  in  his  behalf.  How  easy  for  the  Almighty  to 
move  upon  the  elements  far  oflT,  and  a  change  be  wrought 
in  the  stormy  sea,  in  which  is  tossing  the   distracted  ship, 


XIII.]  DIVINE   PROVIDENCE.  195 

as  if  angels  were  pouring  oil  about  her  path !  So  the  pious 
father,  whose  daughter  is  languishing  with  sickness  in  his 
sight,  might  lift  up  his  heart  to  God  without  desiring  a 
miracle  for  her  recovery,  for  the  Lord  may  breathe  upon 
the  infected  air,  and  a  salutary  influence  spread  itself 
around  her  bed,  quickening  her  pulse,  reviving  her  spirits, 
and  restoring  the  signal  blush  of  health  to  her  faded 
cheeks.  Yes,  we  may  admit  the  regularity  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  look  for  no  interruption  of  them,  till  the  last 
trump  shall  announce  that  heaven  and  earth  are  passing 
away,  yet  we  need  not  shut  the  glorious  Maker  out  of  the 
world  he  has  created ;  but  rather  proclaim  with  Paul  to 
the  philosophers  of  Athens,  that  he  is  "  not  far  from  every 
one  of  us,  for  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and.  have  our 
being." 

2.  Contemplating  nature  to  find  an  objection  to  the  doc- 
trine of  providence,  we  are  reminded  that  mind,  as  well  as 
matter,  has  its  laws.  A  thought,  long  absent  from  the 
mind,  comes  up  again — but  not  at  random,  it  is  governed 
by  some  law  of  association.  The  will  indeed  is  free  ;  but 
even  the  will  has  its  laws  ;  for  example,  it  never  acts  with- 
out a  motive — it  can,  indeed,  resist  the  highest  motives,  but 
it  always  acts  in  the  presence  of  motives.  The  operations 
of  the  mind,  therefore,  are  indexes  of  correspondencies  of 
some  kind  or  other.  Here,  then,  I  see  ground  for  an  ar- 
gument, not  against,  but  in  favor  of,  the  special  providence 
of  God :  it  is  particularly  in  the  fact  of  the  universal  im- 
pression on  the  unsophisticated  human  mind,  that  there  is 
a  special  providence  which  is  always  manifested  vividly  in 
times  of  peril  and  affliction.  It  was  a  favorite  argument 
of  the  ancient  philosophers  for  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
that  all  men  naturally  desired  to  live  hereafter.  One  of 
our  dramatic  poets  has  given  us  a  touching  view  of  their 
eloquent  reasoning  on  this  subject,  in  the  scene  of  Cato, 
meditating  suicide,  as  a  refuge  from  the  troubles  of  the 
times.  He  sits  in  his  study,  with  a  volume  of  Plato  in  one 
hand,  and  a  drawn  dagger  in  the  other  ;  and  thus  reasons  : — 

"  It  must  be  so ;  Plato,  thou  reasonest  well : 
Else,  whence  this  pleasing  hope,  this  fond  desire, 
This  longing  after  immortality? 
Or  whence  this  secret  dread,  this  inward  horror, 
Of  falling  into  naught  ?     Why  shrinks  the  soul 


196  DIVINE   PROVIDENCE.  [SER. 

Back  on  herself,  and  startles  at  desti-uction  ? 
'Tis  the  divinity  that  stirs  within  her : 
'Tis  heaven  itself  that  points  out  an  hereafter, 
And  intimates  eternity  to  man." 

In  like  manner  the  inherent  belief  of  providence,  the 
spontaneous  nature  of  the  soul  in  prayer,  in  sudden  emer- 
gency, or  peril,  denotes  the  fact  to  which  it  corresponds. 
Go  where  you  will,  you  find  men  actuated  by  this  belief. 
Prayer  is  a  part  of  all  religions.  The  Tartar  in  his  travels 
across  the  desert,  spreads  out  his  praying  machine,  when 
he  throws  himself  down  in  the  shade  of  a  rock  to  rest 
amid  the  heats  of  noonday,  in  the  belief  that  the  continual 
orisons  thus  offered  will  propitiate  the  favor  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  secure  protection  against  the  wild  beasts  or  the 
banditti  of  the  desert.  The  Indians  of  North  America,  the 
most  unsophisticated  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  heathen — the 
true  sons  of  nature — have  a  most  controlling  apprehension 
of  divine  providence.  It  is  said  that  those  residing  about 
the  Falls  of  Niagara  were  accustomed,  in  times  of  danger 
or  disaster,  to  throw  their  corn  or  tobacco  into  the  river  to 
propitiate  the  favor  of  the  spirit  having  power  over  evil, 
who,  they  supposed,  had  his  throne  amid  the  roar  and  foam 
of  the  stupendous  cataract. 

3.  Looking  up  from  man,  the  image  of  God,  to  the 
gi-eat  original  himself,  we  see  in  the  attributes  of  God,  as 
recognized  by  reason,  the  broadest  foundation  for  the  doc- 
trine of  providence.  God  is  not  only  a  being  of  infinite 
goodness,  but  he  is  an  omniscient  and  omnipresent  being. 
All  things,  past,  present,  and  future,  are  spread  out  before 
him  as  a  map,  and  he  is  himself  present  in  every  place.  I 
do  not  mean  that  with  God  there  is  no  succession  of 
events,  no  distinction  of  past,  present,  and  future.  The 
doctrine  of  eternal  now,  which  has  the  sanction  of  Dr. 
Clarke  and  some  other  eminent  divines,  appears  to  me  a 
palpaple  absurdity.  It  is,  in  the  first  place,  a  contradiction 
in  terms.  Eternal  now !  What  is  eternity  ?  Endless 
duration.  What  is  now  ?  A  point  of  time.  How  pre- 
posterous to  unite  such  terms !  There  is  the  same  contra- 
diction in  fact.  If  God  is  living  in  an  eternal  now,  he  is 
acting  there ;  consequently,  he  is  at  this  moment  making 
the  world  out  of  nothing,  and  preserving  it  by  his  word, 
and  burning  it  with  fire ;  before  him  man  is  not  made  and 


XIII.]  DTVINF.    PROVTDKXCE.  197 

he  is  made  at  this  moment.  Is  not  this  absurd  ?  How  can 
a  thing  be  and  not  be  at  the  same  time  ?  Then  there  is  an 
endless  repetition  of  the  same  contradictions.  The  world 
is  created  and  destroyed  at  this  moment,  created  and  de- 
stroyed the  next  moment,  and  the  next,  and  so  on  to  infi- 
nity. It  is  no  answer  to  say,  that  we  cannot  reason  on  the 
nature  of  an  infinite  being,  as  we  do  upon  the  nature  of  a 
finite.  What  is  this  but  confessing  that  they  have  got  be- 
yond their  depth  ?  To  common  sense,  an  eternal  now  ap- 
pears an  absurdity ;  why  then  should  we  imagine  it  may 
be  otherwise  ?  It  is  contrary  to  all  we  do  know,  and  we 
have  nothing  to  do  with  what  is  beyond. 

The  true  idea  of  omniscience  is,  that  God  knows  all  things 
that  were,  and  are,  and  shall  be,  in  all  their  parts,  and  condi- 
tions, and  relations,  for  ever.  And  the  true  idea  of  omni- 
presence is,  that  God  is  in  all  parts  of  his  universe  at  this 
moment,  and  will  be  the  next  moment,  and  so  on  for  ever. 
Taking  then  this  view  of  him,  in  connection  with  his  infi- 
nite goodness,  and  the  conclusion  is  manifest  and  unavoid- 
able. God  is  with  me,  he  knows  me  altogether,  he  has 
made  all  my  conditions  and  adaptations,  and  how  can  he 
otherwise  than  care  for  me  ?  Is  not  special  providence, 
therefore,  of  the  very  necessity  of  his  nature  ?  This  is  all 
we  can  ever  wish  to  know.  Hence  the  Psalmist :  "  Whi- 
ther shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee 
from  thy  presence  ?  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art 
there :  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there : 
if  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  sea ;  even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me 
and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me." 

And  then  let  me  ask,  what  in  reality  are  those  regular 
laws  of  nature,  about  which  philosophy  talks  so  proudly  ? 
What,  but  the  uniform  movements  of  the  omnipresent 
power  ?  Has  matter  any  life,  or  energy,  or  motion,  of  it- 
self? Men  talk  of  attraction  and  gravitation,  of  rolUng 
planets  and  revolving  spheres  ;  but  what  are  all  these  with- 
out the  all-sustaining,  living  agency  ?  Not  that  creatures 
have  no  existence  distinct  from  the  Creator,  and  "  all  are 
but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole."  This  is  transcendent- 
alism. But  God  pervades,  actuates,  upholds  all  by  his 
power.  The  sun  describes  his  pathway  in  the  heavens, 
and  the  noise  of  the  tempest  announces  that  he  is  nigh. 


198  BIVTNR    PROVIDENCE.  [SEK» 

"  Thy  way  is  in  the  sea,  and  thy  path  in  the  great  waters, 
and  thy  footsteps  are  not  known." 

II.  Having  considered  the  reasonableness  of  the  doc- 
trine of  providence,  we  are  now  ready  to  contemplate  it  as 
developed  in  the  Scriptures. 

1.  The  common  distinction  of  general  and  particular 
providence  has  no  more  existence  than  this,  that  general 
providence  may  apply  to  the  uniform  operations  of  divine 
power  as  manifested  in  the  changes  of  day  and  night,  and 
the  revolutions  of  the  seasons,  upon  which  men  may  make 
certain  calculations;  and  particular  providence  is  mani- 
fested in  results,  which  could  not  be  certainly  anticipated ; 
as  when  a  sailor  is  taken  from  a  wreck  at  sea  by  a  passing 
ship,  or  a  poor  man  is  favored  by  a  happy  turn  of  busi- 
ness. Generalization  is  the  expedient  of  mental  weakness, 
which  cannot  attend  to  many  particulars  at  once ; — but 
"our  God,"  as  "Wesley  said,  on  another  occasion,  "is  a 
very  particular  God."  Every  individual  thing  is  as  fully  in 
his  view,  as  if  he  gave  it  his  exclusive  attention.  He  not 
only  lays  his  hand  upon  the  mighty  wheels  of  nature,  but 
directs  every  operation.  He  controls  the  revolution  of  the 
comet,  as  it  doubles  heaven's  wide  cape,  and  returns  regu- 
larly after  a  long  lapse  of  a  thousand  years,  and  directs 
the  seemingly  random  whirl  of  the  atom  in  the  air.  He 
equally  supports  the  archangel,  the  lifting  up  of  whose  wing 
brightens  half  heaven,  and  guides  the  insect  that  flits  in 
the  sunbeam.  The  common  language  of  the  Scripture  is 
not  poetry  merely,  but  plain  philosophy ;  not  an  idiom  in 
the  speech  of  the  Hebrew,  but  the  simple  language  of 
truth.  Thus  David :  "  By  terrible  things  in  righteousness 
wilt  thou  answer  us,  O  God  of  our  salvation  ;  who  art  the 
confidence  of  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  of  them  that 
are  afar  off  upon  the  sea :  which  by  his  strength  setteth 
fast  the  mountains ;  being  girded  with  power :  which 
stilleth  the  noise  of  the  seas,  the  noise  of  their  waves,  and 
the  tumult  of  the  people.  They  also  that  dwell  in  the  ut- 
termost parts  are  afraid  at  thy  tokens  :  thou  makest  the 
outgoings  of  the  morning  and  evening  to  rejoice.  Thou 
visitest  the  earth,  and  waterest  it :  thou  greatly  enrichest 
it  with  the  river  of  God,  which  is  full  of  water :  thou  pre- 
parest  them  corn,  when  thou  hast  so  provided  for  it.  Thou 
^waterest  the  ridges  thereof  abundantly :  thou  settlest  the 


XIII.]  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  199 

furrows  thereof;  thou  makest  it  soft  with  showers ;  thou 
blessest  the  springing  thereof.  Thou  crownest  the  year 
with  thy  goodness,  and  thy  paths  drop  fatness.  They  drop 
upon  the  pastures  of  the  wilderness :  and  the  little  hills  re- 
joice on  every  side.  The  pastures  are  clothed  with  flocks  ; 
the  valleys  also  are  covered  over  with  corn ;  they  shout 
for  joy,  they  also  sing."  Psa.  Ixv,  5-13. 

Mark  how  specific  is  the  language  of  the  great  Teacher. 
It  is  a  part  of  his  solemn  counsels  given  to  his  apostles  on 
the  occasion  of  first  sending  them  out  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  tribes  of  Israel :  "  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a 
farthing,  yet  not  one  of  them  is  forgotten  before  God."  St. 
Luke  xii,  7.  Here  is  no  poetry — nor  in  the  same  asser- 
tion as  recollected  by  another  of  his  delighted  and  inspired 
hearers :  "  And  one  of  them  shall  not  fall  on  the  ground 
without  your  Father."  Matt,  x,  29.  But  there  is  a  still 
more  affecting  particularity  in  the  words  which  follow :  "  But 
the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered."  A  hai!'  is 
the  most  insignificant  part  of  our  bodies  ;  having  no  nerve, 
it  is  insensible  to  pain — it  is  burnt,  or  bruised,  and  we  feel 
it  not ;  it  withers  and  falls  upon  the  air,  and  we  take  no 
note  of  it ;  but  not  so  the  all-seeing  Maker.  How  comfort- 
ing is  this  thought  in  view  of  the  dissolution  of  these  bodies 
in  the  grave !  Their  particles  are  scattered  through  the 
air,  earth,  and  sea — not  an  angel  in  heaven  may  know 
where  they  are  deposited;  but  there  is  One  who  holds 
distinctly  in  view  all  the  elements  of  nature. 

"  And  ever  from  the  skies 
Looks  down  and  watches  all  our  dust, 
Till  he  shall  bid  it  rise." 

2.  This  leads  me  directly  to  remark  further,  that  the 
providence  of  God  is  efiectual.  It  is  pledged  to  protect 
those  that  trust  in  him  from  all  evil.  Not  that  the  people 
of  God  shall  be  exempted  from  afflictions,  nay,  they  are 
often  plunged  into  tribulations  in  consequence  of  their 
righteous  principles.  But  afflictions,  in  the  view  of  Heaven, 
are  not  evils.  Nothing  is  an  evil  which  is  a  means  of 
contributing  to  an  unspeakably  greater  good,  which  would 
not  otherwise  be  gained.  Millions  of  grain  have  been  cast 
into  the  earth  this  year,  enough,  throughout  the  world,  to 
feed  a  nation ;  but  it  is  no  calamity  when  we  know  it  yields 


200  DIVINE   PKOVIDEJSOE.  [SEE. 

the  abundance  of  autumn  and  winter.  In  this  sense,  St. 
Paul  affirms  that  "  all  things  work  together  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God."  If  we  grieve,  then,  under  the  af- 
flictions of  Ufe,  it  is  because  we  look  at  ourselves  as  we 
are  in  the  passing  moment  of  time ;  but  the  apostle  con- 
templates us  in  the  unfoldings  of  an  immortal  nature,  and 
blends  in  one  view  the  interests  of  time  and  eternity. 
Comprehending  the  happy  and  harmonious  bearings  of  the 
parts  upon  each  other  and  upon  the  whole,  he  declares, 
in  his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  "  All  things  are  yours, 
whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life, 
or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things  to  come  ;  all  are 
yours." 

In  this  inventory  of  our  effects,  as  Christians,  you  ob- 
serve he  mentions  "  death."  This  is  regarded  as  the 
greatest  of  earthly  evils ;  so,  indeed,  it  would  be,  contem- 
plated by  itself.  But  "  death  is  yours,"  because  it  is  made 
to  contribute  infinitely  to  your  welfare.  But  how?  In 
our  present  constitution  an  immortality  on  earth  would  be 
at  the  expense  of  a  heaven  distant  and  God  invisible.  But 
death  opens  the  gates  of  immortality,  "  and  being  absent 
from  the  body  we  are  present  with  the  Lord."  Ask  the 
brother  who  dies  to-day,  what  he  thinks  of  death ;  O,  he 
exclaims,  death  is  mine !  behold  I  am  here  in  glory ;  I 
see  God  !  Thus,  in  one  view,  our  "  light  affliction,  which 
is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory." 

So  with  all  other  things.  Who,  then,  would  dare  to  re- 
verse any  one  of  God's  doings  ?  Is  not  everything  just 
as  we  ourselves  would  choose,  had  we  infinite  wisdom  ? 
Who,  then,  are  you  that  are  in  trouble,  and  are  tempted 
to  murmur  ?  Should  an  angel  from  heaven  pause  at  the 
door  of  your  dwelling  to  hearken,  would  he  not  be  ready 
to  break  through  upon  you  with  rebuke,  "  How,  now,  ye 
heirs  of  immortality  !  has  not  God  said.  All  is  yours  ?" 

"  Shall  that  which  rises  out  of  naught  complain 
Of  a  few  evils,  j^aid  with  endless  joys  ?" 

3.  But  it  is  necessary  to  add,  that  the  providence  of 
God  is  discriminating.  It  has  respect  to  character,  and 
blesses  not  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  in  hke  manner. 
It  is  true,  "  our  heavenly  Father  sends  his  rain  upon  the 


XIII.]  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  201 

just  and  the  unjust ;"  but  it  is  with  a  different  end.  He 
visits  the  wicked  mth  benefits,  that  he  may  soften  and 
subdue  his  heart — ■"  The  goodness  of  God  leadeth  to  re- 
pentance." But  if  the  wicked  man  persevere  in  his  revolt 
from  God,  he  takes  himself  away  from  his  beneficent 
providence — he  will  not  suffer  God  to  bless  him  in  the 
only  way  in  which  a  holy  God  can  bless.  His  doom, 
therefore,  shall  be  the  reverse  of  the  destiny  of  the  righte- 
ous. It  will  be  said  of  him,  "  It  had  been  better  for  this 
man  if  he  had  not  been  born." 

Let  no  one,  therefore,  be  deceived  by  present  appear- 
ances. It  was  by  tliis  that  an  inspired  ancient  came  near 
the  verge  of  destruction — "  But  as  for  me,  my  feet  were 
almost  gone  ;  my  steps  had  well  nigh  slipped.  For  I  was 
envious  at  the  foolish,  when  I  saw  the  prosperity  of  the 
wicked.  For  there  are  no  bands  in  their  death  :  but  their 
strength  is  firm.  They  are  not  in  trouble  as  other  men ; 
neither  are  they  plagued  like  other  men.  Therefore  pride 
compasseth  them  about  as  a  chain ;  violence  covereth 
them  as  with  a  garment.  Their  eyes  stand  out  with  fatness ; 
they  have  more  than  heart  could  wish.  They  are  corrupt, 
and  speak  wickedly  concerning  oppression:  they  speak 
loftily.  They  set  their  mouth  against  the  heavens,  and  their 
tongue  walketh  through  the  earth.  Therefore  his  people 
return  hither :  and  waters  of  a  full  cup  are  wrung  out  to 
them.  And  they  say.  How  doth  God  know  ?  and  is  there 
knowledge  in  the  Most  High  ?  Behold,  these  are  the  un- 
godly, who  prosper  in  the  world  ;  they  increase  in  riches. 
Verily  I  have  cleansed  my  heart  in  vain,  and  washed  my 
hands  in  innocency.  For  all  the  day  long  have  I  been 
plagued,  and  chastened  every  morning.  If  I  say,  I  will 
speak  thus  ;  behold,  I  should  offend  against  the  generation 
of  thy  children.  When  I  thought  to  know  this,  it  was  too 
painful  for  me  ;  until  I  went  into  the  sanctuary  of  God ; 
then  understood  I  their  end.  Surely  thou  didst  set  them 
in  slippery  places :  thou  castedst  them  dowTi  into  destruc- 
tion. How  are  they  brought  into  desolation,  as  in  a  mo- 
ment !  they  are  utterly  consumed  with  terrors.  As  a  dream' 
when  one  awaketh ;  so,  0  Lord,  when  thou  awakest,  thou 
shalt  despise  their  image.  Thus  my  heart  was  grieved, 
and  I  was  pricked  in  my  reins.  So  foolish  was  I,  and 
ignorant :  I  was  as  a  beast  before  thee."  Psa.  Ixxiii,  2-22. 

9* 


-202  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  [SER. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  need  to  say  first  to  the  young :  Be 
it  impressed  upon  your  minds,  as  you  are  about  shaping 
your  course  for  life,  that  there  is  no  sound  policy  which 
does  not  begin  with  the  fear  of  God.  Satan  will  teach 
you  otherwise,  and  for  a  time  he  may  busy  himself  to  fulfill 
his  sayings.  He  will  take  the  part  of  the  husbandman 
in  the  parable,  and  dig  about  the  tree,  and  do  all  in  his 
power  to  make  it  bear  fruit.  Your  roots  may  strike  deep 
and  your  boughs  spread  out  widely ;  but,  beware  !  in  an 
evil  day  he  will  come  upon  you,  set  a  fire  in  your  branches, 
and  consume  you  down  to  the  ground.  "  I  have  seen  the 
wicked,"  says  David,  "  in  great  power,  and  spreading  him- 
self like  a  green  bay-tree,  yet  he  passed  away ;  and,  lo ! 
he  was  not ;  yea,  I  sought  him,  but  he  could  not  be  found." 
Psa.  xxxvii,  35,  36. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  you  make  God  your  portion,  he 
will  make  your  present  and  everlasting  welfare  to  har- 
monize, and  every  earthly  blessing  shall  be  yours,  the 
withholding  of  which  would  not  contribute  more  highly  to 
your  eternal  well-being.  Well  do  I  recollect  how  rich  I 
felt,  when,  soon  after  my  conversion,  the  doctrine  of  provi- 
dence was  opened  to  my  mind.  I  felt  myself  brought  into 
alliance  with  infinite  Good,  and  in  Christ  both  earth  and 
heaven  was  my  inheritance. 

To  my  Christian  brethren  I  have  only  to  say,  that  to 
enjoy  fully  the  providence  of  God,  you  have  need  of  a 
strong  and  comprehensive  faith,  which  will  pierce  the 
clouds  that  often  involve  our  present  state,  and  grasp  the 
connections  of  time  and  eternity.  On  this  point  you  are 
now  on  trial.  Often  you  will  be  in  circumstances  bearing 
a  threatening  aspect — it  is  your  duty,  then,  to  believe 
God's  word — and  hope  against  hope ;  for,  in  all  events, 
"  God  is  for  you."  I  have,  somewhere,  met  with  a  stoiy 
of  a  naval  officer,  who  took  his  companion  with  him  in  one 
of  his  voyages.  A  storm  came  up.  In  the  midst  of  it, 
one  came  to  him  on  deck,  and  told  him  his  wife,  through 
fear,  had  fallen  into  hysterical  fits,  and  if  he  wished  to  see 
her  alive  he  must  go  to  her  relief.  As  he  ascended  the 
cabin  stairway,  he  was  at  a  loss  Avhat  to  do  ;  he  could  not 
be  spared  from  duty  to  the  ship  but  a  moment  at  such  a 
time  as  that.  A  happy  thought  struck  him.  As  he  ap- 
proached her,  lying  upon  the  floor  convulsed  wuth  terror, 


XIV.]  THE  GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL   SERVANT.  203 

he  drew  his  sword,  and,  with  a  threatening  look,  pointed 
it  at  her  bosom,  and  demanded,  sternly,  "  if  she  was  not 
afraid  of  that?"  Astonished  at  such  a  movement  from 
her  husband,  she  collected  herself  for  a  moment,  and, 
looking  up  into  his  face,  she  said,  "Afraid  of  that!  no, 
for  it  is  in  the  hands  of  my  husband,  who  has  always  loved 
me."  "  Well,"  said  he,  lifting  up  his  sword  and  changing 
the  tone  of  his  voice,  "  this  storm  is  in  the  hands  of  God, 
and  he  has  always  loved  us  !"  The  effect  was  instant,  her 
mind  was  composed.  He  returned  to  his  duty,  and  the 
ship  was  saved.  Thus,  while  you  are  in  this  pilgrimage, 
the  storm  will  gather  over  you  with  all  its  terrors,  and 
the  sword  will  be  pointed  at  your  breast — but,  fear  not, 
your  Redeemer  walks  amidst  the  tempest,  and  the  sword 
is  in  the  hand  of  one  who  loves  your  for  ever.  Have  faith 
in  God.     Amen. 


SERMON  XIV. 

The  Good  and  Faithful  Servant. 

BY  REV.  OSMAN  C.  BAKER,  A.  M., 

OF   THE   NEW-HAMPSHIRE    CONFERENCE. 

"  His  lord  said  unto  him,  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful 
servant :  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee 
ruler  over  many  things :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  tliy  lord." — Matt. 
XXV,  21. 

It  was  a  custom  in  the  East  for  masters  to  furnish  their 
servants  with  a  certain  amount  of  capital  to  be  employed 
in  traffic,  and,  at  a  given  time,  an  examination  was  made 
that  the  proceeds  might  be  given  to  the  master,  and  the 
diligent  and  successful  servant  duly  rewarded.  Our 
Saviour  seized  upon  this  fact  to  illustrate  more  fully  some 
of  the  prominent  characteristics  of  the  government  of  God. 
Talents — means  and  facilities  for  doing  good — are  given 
to  all.  To  some  are  given  five  talents,  to  others  two,  to 
others  one,  "  to  every  man  according  to  his  several  ability." 
Having  prescribed  the  appropriate  work  of  every  man, 
"  straightway"  the  master  "  took  his  journey."  "  After  a 
long  time  the  lord  of  those  servants  cometh,  and  reckoneth 


204  THE   GOOD   AND   FAITHFUL   SERVANT.  [SER. 

with  them."  A  just  and  impartial  examination  was  made, 
and  the  future  condition  of  the  servants  depended  upon 
their  moral  character,  as  developed  by  their  conduct.  To 
the  good  and  faithful  servant  it  was  said,  "  Enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  lord ;"  but  to  the  wicked  and  slothful 
servant,  "  Cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant  into  outer 
darkness ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth." 

The  general  sentiment  of  the  parable  is,  that  the  in- 
terests of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  are  committed  to  his 
church,  and  that  her  responsibility  is  commensurate  to  her 
ability.  The  Jewish  church,  which  had  been  the  chosen 
instrumentality  to  carry  out  the  great  purposes  of  God 
toward  the  human  race,  were  about  to  be  rejected,  and  the 
Christian  church  to  resume  her  responsibility.  The 
Christian  church  was  to  become  "  the  light  of  the  world," 
"  the  city  upon  a  hill,"  the  central  nation,  around  which 
the  world  was  to  gather.  She  was  to  become  responsible 
for  the  universal  dissemination  of  divine  truth  ;  and  hence, 
to  prepare  her  for  fidelity  in  her  work,  different  courses 
of  conduct,  and  their  results,  are  placed  before  her. 

Our  text  presents, 

I.  The  character  ;  and 

II.  The  re^vard,  of  the  servant  w^ho  will  be 

COMMENDED  BY  HIS  LORD. 

I.    The  character. 

1.  The  term,  servant,  shows  the  relation  which  the  dis- 
ciple of  Christ  sustains,  and  the  epithets,  good  and  faithful, 
his  moral  characteristics.  Good  and  goodness  are  used  in 
different  senses.  We  say  that  fruit  is  good,  when  it  is 
agreeable  to  the  sense  of  taste.  An  article  of  husbandry 
is  good,  when  it  is  happily  adapted  to  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  constructed.  Goodness,  as  existing  in  the 
Deity,  embraces  that  principle  which  leads  the  divine 
Being  to  bestow  blessings  upon  his  creatures.  Goodness, 
as  applied  to  man,  must  be  taken  in  a  restricted  sense  ;  it 
refers  to  the  moral  qualities  of  his  heart.  It  consists  in 
the  possession  of  the  Christian  graces.  The  apostle  has 
enumerated,  "Add  to  your  faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue  know- 
ledge, and  to  knowledge  temperance,  and  to  temperance 
patience,  and  to  patience  godliness,  and  to  godliness  bro- 
therly kindness,  and  to  brotherly  kindness  charity."  The 
supposed  possession  of  any  one  grace  gives  us  no  right  to 


XIV.]  THE  GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL   SERVANT.  205 

profess  Christian  goodness.  The  apostle  says,  "add," 
encxogriyrjoare,  lead  up,  alluding  to  the  chorus  in  the 
Grecian  dance,  where  they  danced  with  joined  hands.  The 
allusion  is  a  beautiful  one,  showing  the  intimate  connection 
existing  between  the  graces  of  the  Spirit.  Where  one 
truly  exists,  they  all  exist,  and  nearly  in  the  same  strength 
and  maturity.  Christian  goodness  is  necessarily  asso- 
ciated with  Christian  holiness.  It  not  merely  implies  a 
state  in  which  the  sympathies  of  human  nature  are  easily 
excited,  and  lead  to  acts  of  kindness  toward  the  bereaved 
and  distressed,  but  in  which  fruit  is  shown  unto  holiness, 
and  the  end  eternal  life.  It  is  not  a  mere  negative  state, 
in  which  there  is  no  marked  development  of  unsanctified 
nature,  but  the  good  man,  like  ancient  Barnabas,  is  full 
of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  When  the  work  of  creation 
was  completed,  from  the  beauty  and  harmony  of  the  parts, 
and  their  perfect  adaptation  to  accomplish  the  divine  pur- 
poses, everything  was  pronounced  to  be  very  good.  No 
higher  appellation  could  be  given.  And  man  now  be- 
comes good,  only  so  far  as,  by  the  renewal  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  bears  the  impress  of  his  original  nature.  So 
long  as  sin  is  a  cherished  object  in  his  heart,  there  is  not 
a  moral  feature  in  man  pleasing  to  God.  The  Being  of 
infinite  holiness  can  delight  in  no  principle  opposed  to  his 
nature.  Earth  becomes  lovely,  only  as  it  reflects  the  pure 
image  of  heaven. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  appreciate  this  characteristic 
of  the  servant  whom  God  loves.  It  is  a  household  grace, 
adapted  to  every  changing  circumstance,  and  to  every 
occasion.  Some  of  the  Christian  graces  seem  not  to  enter 
into  every  act  of  life,  but  are  called  out  on  peculiar  emer- 
gencies. Patience  and  resignation  exhibit  themselves  only 
under  the  ills  of  life,  or  in  the  dark  hour  of  adversity  ;  but 
Christian  goodness,  from  whatever  position  it  is  viewed,  is 
alike  conspicuous. 

Goodness  is  essential  to  produce  a  Christian  influence. 
The  exhibition  of  talent  of  the  highest  order  reproves  not 
the  unsanctified  heart.  The  cultivation  of  the  intellect  is 
not  necessarily  associated  with  moral  culture.  The  wisdom 
of  sages  is  vastly  removed  from  the  wisdom  of  God.  It  is 
as  true  now  as  formerly,  "  the  world  by  wisdom  knows  not 
God."     "  Though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  under- 


206  THE  GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL   SERVANT.  [SER. 

stand  all  mysteries,  and  all  knowledge,  and  though  I  have 
all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not 
charity,  I  am  nothing." 

Wealth  and  honor,  which  command  such  respect  and 
influence  among  men,  possess  not,  in  themselves,  an  attri- 
bute of  Christian  power.  And,  indeed,  by  general  consent, 
they  are  arrayed  against  Christian  virtue,  until  by  special 
consecration  they  are  devoted  to  God. 

Patriotism  and  natural  fortitude,  however  much  they 
have  accomplished  to  improve  the  civil  and  social  condi- 
tion of  man,  have  wholly  failed  to  make  him  morally  good. 
We  have  heard  of  the  Roman,  who,  to  show  that  he  could 
not  be  dispirited  by  fear,  or  intimidated  by  suffering, 
calmly  placed  his  right  hand  upon  the  burning  altar,  and 
there  steadily  held  it,  without  emotion,  until  it  was  con- 
sumed. We  have  heard  also  of  the  distinguished  martyr 
of  whom  it  was  said,  "  In  an  unguarded  and  unhappy  hour 
he  had  subscribed  to  doctrines  which  he  did  not  believe ; 
an  act  which  he  afterward  deeply  repented  of,  as  the 
greatest  miscarriage  of  his  life.  And  when  he  was  subse- 
quently led  to  the  stake,  he  stretched  out  the  hand  which 
had  been  the  instrument  in  this  false  and  discreditable 
subscription,  and,  without  betraying,  either  by  his  counte- 
nance or  motions,  the  least  sign  of  weakness,  or  even  of 
feeling,  he  held  it  in  the  flames  till  it  was  entirely  con- 
sumed." In  the  one  case  we  admire  the  man,  in  the  other 
the  moral  principles  of  his  heart.  Though  the  acts  were 
similar,  the  one  showed  the  martial  man,  the  other  the 
good  man. 

A  deficiency  in  natural  endowments  does  not  in  every 
case  essentially  weaken  the  moral  influence,  but  even  the 
least  suspicion  of  moral  delinquency  effectually  destroys  it. 
Let  a  man  exhibit,  if  possible,  the  purity  of  angelic  charac- 
ter in  every  particular  except  in  one  ;  let  it  be  seen  that 
in  his  dealings  with  men  he  has  a  greater  regard  to  his 
personal  interests  than  he  has  to  the  principle  of  equity, 
and  all  his  good  de6ds  will  be  passed  by  for  naught,  be- 
cause in  failing  in  one  radical  principle,  he  has  failed  to 
obtain  the  reputation  of  the  good  man.  But  let  a  person 
possess  the  infirmities  of  human  nature  in  an  uncommon 
degree,  and  yet  always  exhibit  the  purest  intention,  the 
virtues  of  his  heart  will  be  taken,  even  by  a  caviling  world, 


XIV.]  THE  GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL  SERVANT.  207 

as  a  ready  apology  for  the  errors  of  his  life.  In  defending 
the  cause  of  truth,  and  presenting  its  claims,  there  may  be 
a  thousand  errors  ;  in  his  logic  yet  if  he  has  acquired  the 
title  of  God's  good  servant,  the  argument  would  hardly  be 
weakened.  It  is  thus  that  "  God  hath  chosen  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  which  are 
mighty."  It  is  the  eloquence  of  the  life,  more  than  the 
eloquence  of  the  tongue,  that  is  now  demanded  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  truth. 

Place  the  good  man  in  those  circumstances  in  which 
worldly  principles  show  their  insufficiency,  and  mark  his 
influence.  See  him  the  scoff  of  the  world,  and  the  bearer 
of  its  hate  ;  his  worldly  prospects  blighted,  and  his  pleasures 
mingled  with  bitter  tears.  No  dark  frown  settles  upon  his 
features  as  he  thinks  of  the  providence  of  God.  No  sad 
murmurings  that  his  circumstances  are  so  different  from 
his  neighbors.  No  hard  judging  of  God  from  one  isolated 
act  of  his  government.  No  desolation  of  heart,  though  the 
sources  of  his  temporal  enjoyments  are  diminished. 

"As  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale,  and  midway  leaves  the  storm, 
Though  roimd  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head." 

Place  the  Christian  in  affliction,  and  then  you  will  see 
his  moral  worth. 

"  Affliction  is  the  good  man's  shining  scene  ! 
Prosperity  conceals  his  brightest  ray, — 
As  night  to  stars,  wo  lustre  gives  to  man." 

2.  The  faithful  servant.  Christian  fidelity  may  be  dis- 
tinguished by  the  general  characteristics  exhibited  by  a 
faithful  temporal  servant.  He  feels  a  common  interest 
with  his  Lord.  The  mere  hope  of  reward  is  not  the  gov- 
erning motive  which  inspires  him  to  action.  He  marks 
not  the  sun's  decline,  and  languishes  for  the  last  expiring 
ray,  but 

"  Glad  to  pray  and  labor  on. 
Till  his  earthly  course  is  run." 

Such  is  the  identity  betw^een  Christ  and  his  faithful  ser- 
vants, that  they  not  only  bear  his  moral  image,  but  enter 
into  his  plans,  take  in,  as  far  as  humanity  allows,  the  same 
general  view,  and  adopt  the  same  measures  which  Christ 


208  THE  GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL   SERVANT.  [SEB. 

has  employed  for  the  universal  spread  of  the  gospel.  A 
heart  less  imbued  with  true  Christian  sympathy  might 
inquire  what  must  be  done,  while  carrying  out  worldly 
plans,  and  gratifying  an  unsanctified  ambition,  to  make 
salvation  certain ;  but,  to  God's  faithful  servant,  the  ques- 
tion is  not  merely  a  personal  one,  relating  to  his  own  sal- 
vation, but  where,  in  the  great  system  of  agencies,  is  his 
appointed  sphere  of  labor  for  the  world's  salvation. 

Christian  fidelity  is  not  to  be  tested  by  the  amount  of 
labor  performed,  but  by  the  degree  of  devotion  to  the  ap- 
pointed work.  One  man,  by  superior  endowments,  may 
far  surpass  another  in  the  amount  of  labor,  and  yet  not  ex- 
hibit greater  Christian  fidelity.  The  two  mites  of  the 
widow  were  valued  more  highly  by  Christ  than  the  offer- 
ings of  wealth.  Heaven  estimates  our  gifts,  not  by  their 
magnificence  and  splendor,  but  by  the  prayers  and  tears 
by  which  they  have  been  consecrated. 

The  faithful  servant  loves  his  work.  The  manifesta- 
tion of  the  least  distaste  is  evident  proof  of  rebellion.  It 
shows  that  either  the  commands  of  the  Lord  are  unjust, 
or  the  servant  is  w^anting  in  true  Chi-istian  feeling.  A 
friend  may  anticipate  all  our  desires,  and  show  marked 
attention  to  all  our  wants,  and  yet  if  we  doubt  the  perfect 
cordiality  w^ith  which  it  is  rendered,  it  is  far  from  rendering 
us  happy.  To  make  us  happy,  the  friend  must  show  that 
he  loves  to  make  us  happy.  Christ  requires  the  same 
principles. 

"  For  what  are  outward  things  to  thee, 
Unless  they  spring  from  love  ?" 

The  spirit  of  sacrifice  is  necessarily  connected  with 
Christian  fidelity.  It  is  pure  selfishness  which  prompts  to 
action  when  present  enjoyment  merely  is  to  be  secured. 
Though  every  temporal  interest  should  be  sacrificed — life 
become  a  scene  of  affliction  and  toil — obstacles  of  fearful 
magnitude  arise  on  every  side,  yet  motives  of  these  kinds 
are  to  be  but  little  heeded  when  the  line  of  Christian  duty 
is  clearly  drawn.  The  incentive  of  visible  success  is  not 
to  be  required. 

"  Great  minds,  like  Heaven,  are  pleased  with  doing  good, 
Though  the  ungrateful  subjects  of  their  favors 
Are  barren  in  return." 


XIV.]  THE   GOOD   AND   FAITHFUL   SERVANT.  209 

The  servant  is  not  called  to  enter  the  field  to  mark  the 
different  results  attending  the  various  agencies  employed, 
but  to  cast  his  bread  upon  the  waters,  and  attend  to  the 
specific  duties  required  by  his  master. 

II.   The  reward. 

The  reward  consists  in  a  grateful  commendation,  and  in 
the  bestowment  of  the  highest  positive  blessings.  The 
Persic  version  paraphrases  the  passage :  "  The  owner  of 
the  money  received  him  pleasantly,  and  uttered  words  to 
him  grateful  to  his  heart,  saying.  Well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant."  The  term  ev,  well  done,  was  used  by  the 
spectators  at  the  ancient  games  to  denote  applause,  and  in 
the  text  it  is  used  as  an  outburst  of  dehghted  feeling.  The 
encomium  was  pronounced  wholly  in  view  of  his  moral 
qualities — he  had  been  a  good  and  faithful  servant.  To 
be  commended  for  possessing  great  talents  would  be  no 
high  distinction.  In  such  a  commendation  even  the  evil 
spirits  might  share,  for  they  excel  in  strength.  To  be 
commended  for  the  possession  of  wealth,  or  worldly  in- 
fluence, would  constitute  no  part  of  the  reward  of  the 
righteous.  Examined  by  this  standard,  some  of  the  most 
depraved  would  claim  the  highest  honors,  for  they  have 
enriched  their  coffers  from  every  clime,  and  ruled  the 
destinies  of  nations.  Even  acts  of  charity,  unless  prompted 
by  Christian  principle,  have  no  high  moral  value.  It  is  a 
truth  which  should  be  deeply  impressed  upon  every  heart, 
no  man  will  be  commended  at  last  but  for  his  moral  and 
religious  worth.  The  moral  qualities  of  those  who  have 
attained  everlasting  felicity  are  alone  made  prominent. 
They  Avere  just  men  made  perfect,  those  who  had  washed 
their  robes,  and  made  them  tvhite  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb.  Their  temporal  circumstances  are  rarely  referred 
to,  unless  to  show  the  power  of  their  faith,  and,  by  contrast, 
the  magnitude  of  their  reward.  As  the  idea  has  been  so 
prevalent,  that  temporal  prosperity  is  a  sure  concomitant 
of  internal  purity,  the  examples  of  heavenly  enjoyments 
are  taken  from  the  lowly  and  afflicted.  Those  arrayed  in 
white  robes,  "  came  out  of  great  tribulation."  Good  Laza- 
rus was  borne  from  crumbs  to  a  festival — from  the  rich 
man's  gate  to  Abraham's  bosom. 

The  commendation  of  the  good  servant  was  pronounced 
in  view  of  his  life  as  a  whole.     We  may  feel  great  com- 


210  THE  GOOD  AND   FAITHFUL   SERVANT.  [SEK. 

placency  in  reviewing  a  portion  of  our  life  :  it  may  have 
been  characterized  by  ardent  Christian  efforts,  and  holy 
aspirations  after  God ;  yet  such  are  the  moral  obliquities 
which  deface  another  portion,  that  we  turn  away  with  dis- 
gust from  our  inconsistencies.  A  knowledge  of  the  power 
of  interest,  of  sense,  and  of  passion,  diminishes  the  joy 
arising  from  actions  well  performed;  for,  amid  the  rejoic- 
ings of  conscious  integrity,  we  have  a  foreboding  of  future 
relapse.  Many,  indeed,  seem  to  depend  upon  one  portion 
of  life  to  give  character  and  value  to  the  whole ;  as  though 
the  virtues  of  one  period  would  cancel  the  vices  of  another. 
How  different  with  the  good  and  faithful  servant ! 

"  Behold  him. !  in  the  evening  tide  of  life, 
A  life  well  spent,  whose  early  care  it  was 
His  riper  years  should  not  upbraid  his  green, 
By  unperceived  degrees  he  wears  away, 
Yet,  like  the  sun,  seems  larger  at  his  setting." 

Every  act  of  life  will  be  reviewed,  every  influence,  direct 
and  remote,  will  be  considered.  Sin  will  appear  no  less 
hateful  because  it  was  committed  by  one  consecrated  to  a 
better  work  ;  nor  will  its  results  be  less  disastrous. 

The  Lord,  in  pronouncing  the  joyous  plaudit,  reminds 
the  servant  of  the  vast  disparity  between  the  work  and  the 
reward :  "  Thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  feiv  things,  I 
will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things."  The  trust  com- 
mitted to  God's  servant,  however  responsible,  relates  only 
to  a  few  things ;  the  sufferings  to  wdiich  it  exposes  him  are 
few,  but  the  enjoyments  to  be  received  are  many.  Every 
spiritual  sense,  every  act  of  the  divine  administration  in 
the  kingdoms  of  nature,  providence,  and  grace,  will  be  a 
source  of  joy.  The  height  of  the  enjoyment  is  denoted  by 
the  greatest  contrast  in  earthly  condition — the  servant  be- 
comes a  ruler.  The  apostle  presents  the  same  view :  "  For 
our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for 
us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory." 
Mark  the  strength  of  the  antithesis.  On  the  one  hand, 
afflictio7i,  on  the  other,  gloi-y — light  affliction,  a  iveight  of 
glory — light  affliction  for  a  moment,  an  eternal  \yeight  of 
glory. 

The  final  felicity  of  the  good  man  is  represented  by  his 
entering  into  "  the  joy  of  his  Lord."  Heaven  is  here  re- 
presented under  the  figure  of  a  banquet.     Pignorius  in- 


XIY.]  THE  GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL   SERVANT.  211 

forms  us  that  the  wordyoy  was  inscribed  on  the  eastern 
banqueting  rooms.  How  indescribably  glorious  is  the 
future  state  of  the  good  man  !  The  day  of  painful  labor  is 
closed ;  the  tumults  of  passion  are  hushed ;  the  highest 
wish  of  the  devout  heart  is  crowned — the  good  man  has 
entered  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  Christian  effort  revolting  to  sanctified  affection, 
so  that  the  highest  degree  of  Christian  virtue  would  be 
unwilling  to  be  employed  in  it,  even  for  ever,  if  such  were 
the  will  of  God ;  but  as  labor  is  required  merely  as  a 
means  of  attaining  future  good,  the  consecrated  man  re- 
joices that  he  has  accomplished  the  design  of  his  being, 
and  secured  the  highest  pleasure  of  his  heavenly  Father. 
He  rejoices  in  heaven,  not  as  pure  selfishness  rejoices  in 
the  accomplishment  of  its  ends,  but  in  a  state  where  he 
may  exhibit  more  perfectly  the  moral  image  of  his  Re- 
deemer, and  can  serve,  with  a  strength  and  ardor  before 
unknown,  the  Ruler  of  the  universe. 

To  impress  the  more  vividly  the  glories  of  heaven  upon 
Christians,  the  most  cherished  objects  were  employed. 
"Were  the  temple  and  itg  service  to  some  associated  with 
everything  sacred  and  delightful — to  such  it  was  said,  "  Him 
that  overcometh  will  I  make  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  my 
God,  and  he  shall  go  no  more  out."  Had  any  been  sub- 
ject to  severe  affliction,  constant  alarms,  and  heart-rending 
partings — to  them  the  type  of  supreme  felicity  was  a  state 
in  which  "  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes," 
where  "  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor 
crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain."  Did  any 
associate  the  ornaments  of  wealth  with  perfect  delight — the 
abode  of  the  righteous  was  a  city  whose  walls  were  jasper, 
whose  foundations  were  "  garnished  with  all  manner  of  pre- 
cious stones,"  whose  gates  were  "  pearls,"  whose  streets  were 
"  pure  gold,"  and  whose  light  was  "  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  Lamb."  Had  rural  scenery  peculiar  charms  for  any — 
to  them  heaven  was  a  garden  of  delights,  where  flowed 
"  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal."  On  the 
banks  of  the  river  grew  "  the  tree  of  life,"  whose  diversi- 
fied fruit  would  gratify  every  taste,  "  which  bare  twelve 
manner  of  fruits,  and  yielded  her  fruit  every  month,  and 
the  leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations." 
The  instructed  mind  will  see  in  all  these  descriptions,  that 


212  DIVINITY   OP  CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

the  future  state  of  the  good  man  is  designed  to  be  repre- 
sented as  superlatively  glorious. 

Such  are  the  inducements  to  become  good  and  faithful 
servants.  As  infinitely  glorious  and  desirable  as  everlast- 
ing Hfe  is,  it  can  be  secured  only  by  moral  purity  and  un- 
ceasing efforts.  The  least  defect  in  the  radical  principles 
of  the  heart  will  vitiate  any  title  we  may  have  claimed  to 
the  heavenly  inheritance. 

"  0  that  each  from  his  Lord  may  receive  the  glad  word, 
Well  and  faithfully  done  ! 
Enter  into  my  joy,  and  sit  down  on  my  throne." 


SERMON    XV. 


The  Divinity  of  Christianity  demonstrated  in  the 
Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

BY   REV.    JOHN    H.   POWER,  D.  D., 

OF  THE  NORTH  OHIO  CONFERKNCE. 

"  And  he,  trembling  and  astonished,  said,  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
me  to  do  ?  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  Arise,  and  go  into  the  city, 
and  it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do." — Acts  ix,  6. 

The  history  of  this  subject  presents  us  with  a  humili- 
ating picture  of  the  depravity  and  wickedness  of  man  ;  and 
also  an  exalted  view  of  the  wisdom,  goodness,  and  saving 
power  of  God.  When  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment had  been  fulfilled  in  the  glorious  person,  holy  teach- 
ing, and  sublime  works,  of  Jesus  Christ — the  promise  of 
God  realized  in  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  and  thousands  were  converted  and  went  forth 
in  their  redeemed  and  renewed  character,  breathing  the 
spirit  of  "  peace  on  earth,  and  good-will  to  men  " — it  might 
have  been  expected  that  they  would  have  been  received  by 
society  with  acclamations  of  joy,  and  honored  as  the  best  por- 
tion of  our  race.  Such,  however,  was  not  the  fact ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  the  wicked  multitude  appear  to  have  sought 
their  extermination  from  the  earth.  The  first  one  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Christ  who  fell  a  victim  to  this  outbreaking  of  the 


XV.]  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  213 

depravity  and  wickedness  of  man  was  the  inoiFensive  and 
pious  Stephen ;  and  among  his  murderers  we  find  the  per- 
son whose  character  is  brought  to  view  in  the  subject  before 
us.  But  while  we  mourn  over  the  folly  and  cruelty  of 
man,  in  his  opposition  to  God  and  his  own  best  interests, 
in  this  and  the  future  world,  we  can  with  gratitude  admire 
the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God,  in  confounding  the  wisest 
counsels,  defeating  the  most  malevolent  designs  of  man, 
and  not  unfrequently  rescuing,  from  the  wreck  of  his  most 
cherished  earthly  hopes,  his  immortal  spirit  by  the  power 
of  divine  grace.  A  striking  example  of  this  we  have  in 
the  case  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  as  presented  in  the  text.  To 
render  this  subject  of  as  great  practical  use  as  possible, 
your  attention  will  be  directed  to  the  following  particulars  : 

I.  The  fact  that  Saul  was  the  subject  of  an 

ENTIRE  CHANGE  IN  FAITH  AND  PRACTICE  ON  THE  SUB- 
JECT OF    MORALS  AND  RELIGION.       And, 

II.  That  this  change  demonstrates  the  divinity 
OF  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  God's  method 
OF  reforming  and  saving  sinners. 

III.  The  conduct  of  Saul,  under  the  divine 
administration,  strikingly  exemplifies  that  obe- 
dience which  every  man  oaves  to  the  blessed  Sa- 
viour. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  spend  much  time  on  the  first 
member  of  this  subject,  with  regard  .to  the  great  change 
wrought  on  Saul.  This  will  be  made  sufficiently  clear  by 
collecting  a  few  facts  from  the  Scriptures  bearing  on  his 
case,  before  and  after  the  moral  position  in  which  we  find 
him  presented  in  the  text  now  under  consideration. 

And  first,  some  facts  before  his  visit  to  Damascus. 
In  regard  to  his  faith,  he  was  a  rigid  Pharisee ;  and, 
as  such,  confined  salvation  to  the  Jews  alone,  and  such 
as  were  proselyted  to  their  faith.  He  believed  in  the 
merit  of  works ;  that  salvation  was  secured,  meritoriously, 
by  the  observance  of  Jewish  rites,  traditions,  and  ceremo- 
nies. He  utterly  rejected  Jesus  Christ,  as  an  impostor; 
maintaining  that  his  violent  death  was  but  a  righteous 
retribution  for  his  blasphemy ;  and  that  his  followers 
deserved  a  similar  fate  for  the  same  cause.  With  regard 
to  practice,  he  was  equally  removed  from  the  religion  of 
the  God  of  love ;  being,  according  to  his  own  showing, 


214  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

"in  ignorance  and  unbelief,  a  blaspliemer,  and  a  perse- 
cutor, and  injurious."  "  And  beyond  measure  persecuted 
the  church  of  God,  and  wasted  it."  "  And  being  exceed- 
ing mad  against  Christians,  he  persecuted  them  oft  in  every 
synagogue,  and  compelled  them  to  blaspheme,  and  perse- 
cuted them  even  unto  strange  cities,  and  when  they  were 
put  to  death  he  gave  his  voice  against  them."  By  these 
deeds  of  daring  cruelty  to  the  unoffending  and  unprotected 
disciples  of  the  blessed  Saviour,  Saul  "  made  havoc  of  the 
infant  church,  entering  into  every  house  of  the  disciples, 
and,  haling  men  and  women,  committed  them  to  prison." 
How  deep  must  be  the  corruption  of  his  heart,  and  how 
dark  his  understanding,  who  can  suppose  that  the  Being, 
whose  nature  is  love,  and  whose  tender  mercies  are  over 
all  his  works,  can  be  delighted  with  such  service  as  Saul 
attempted  to  render !  that  he  requires  his  servants  to 
hate  their  fello\v-men,  and  compel  them  to  blaspheme ! 
that  he  requires  them  to  persecute  and  murder  those  who 
cannot,  or  will  not,  conform  to  their  dictations  in  matters 
of  religion!  But  such  were  the  Adews,  and  such  the 
religion,  of  Saul.  In  the  blindness  of  his  zeal,  in  the 
boldness  of  his  bigotry,  he  stopped  not  to  consider  the  in- 
jury done  to  civil  society  by  the  death  of  its  best  citizens. 
He  paused  not  to  reflect  on  the  sacred  rights  of  conscience. 
The  horrors  of  prisons,  filled,  without  distinction  of  cir- 
cumstance or  sex,  with  the  suffering  saints  of  God,  reached 
not  his  sympathies.  He  was  unmoved  by  a  mother's 
tears,  or  a  child's  tenderness.  He  cared  not  for  the  sighs 
and  sorrows  of  parents,  made  childless  by  the  martyr- 
dom of  their  offspring  ;  nor  the  anguish  of  children,  made 
orphans  by  the  murder  of  their  parents ;  but  rushed  on, 
in  his  hostility  to  Christ  and  his  followers,  with  a  reck- 
lessness which  seemed  to  glory  only  in  the  anguish  and 
ruin  of  others.  And  let  it  be  remembered,  friends,  that 
this  is  not  a  peculiarly  aggravated  case  of  human  depra- 
vity, but  only  a  fair  specimen  of  the  corruption  of  our  race ; 
which,  under  similar  circumstances,  would  be  equally  cruel. 
And  the  very  fact  that  all  these  enormities  were  practiced 
under  the  impulses  of  a  blind  and  bigoted  religion,  and  that 
the  author  of  them,  though  possessed  of  great  power  of  in- 
tellect and  unbending  regard  for  integrity,  was  so  infatuated 
and  led  awav  with  his  blind  zeal  that  his  conscience  was 


XV.]  DIVINITY  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  215 

insensible  of  the  wrong,  so  that  while  slaying  the  followers 
of  Christ  he  thought  he  was  doing  God  service,  and  was 
living  in  all  good  conscience  toward  God,  indicates  the 
fearful  depth  of  depravity  in  the  nature  of  man.  How  hu- 
miliating the  thought,  that,  morally,  man  has  departed 
so  far  from  his  Maker !  But  we  are  approaching  a 
period  in  the  history  of  this  remarkable  man  in  which  the 
scene  is  changed,  and  divine  grace  triumphs  over  the 
wickedness  of  man.  "  And  Saul,  yet  breathing  out  threat- 
ening and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,  went 
unto  the  high  jDriest,  and  desired  of  him  letters  to  Damas- 
cus, to  the  synagogue,  that  if  he  found  any  of  this  way, 
whether  they  were  men  or  women,  he  might  bring  them 
bound  unto  Jerusalem."  Thus  clothed  with  authority,  and 
animated  with  the  hope  of  success  in  his  cruel  mission 
against  the  disciples  of  the  Saviour,  he  sets  out  for  Damas- 
cus. And  where  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case  would 
seem  to  call  for  the  retributions  of  Heaven,  He,  who  is  long- 
suffering  and  of  tender  compassion,  meets  him  in  mercy ; 
and  we  find  Saul,  "  trembling  and  astonished,"  supplicating 
the  mercy  of  Christ,  whom  he  had  blasphemed,  and  whose 
disciples  he  had  martyred.  We  notice,  therefore,  in  the 
second  place,  some  facts  in  the  case  of  Saul,  at  the  time  of, 
and  subsequently  to,  his  visit  to  Damascus. 

1.  In  relation  to  his  faith,  we  see  an  entire  change.  Re- 
nouncing Judaism,  he  receives  Christ,  "  the  only  name  given 
under  heaven  among  men  whereby  he  could  be  saved ;" 
"  counting  all  things  but  loss  for  the  sake  of  Christ,"  and 
trusting  alone  to  faith  in  the  merits  of  Christ  for  salvation, 
he  now  seeks  for  holiness  of  heart  and  life,  without  which 
he  could  not  see  God,  could  not  be  saved  in  heaven. 

2.  With  regard  to  practice,  the  change  in  Saul  is  not 
less  clear.  From  a  blasphemer  of  Christ,  he  becomes 
an  humble  penitent,  praying  to  Christ ;  believing  in  him 
to  the  saving  of  his  soul.  "Therefore,  being  justified  by 
faith,  he  had  peace  with  God."  He  is  regenerated :  "  The 
Spirit  bears  witness  with  his,  that  he  is  a  child  of  God." 
He  makes  a  public  profession  ;  takes  upon  him  all  the  ob- 
ligations of  Christianity  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism  ;  and 
consecrates  himself  to  Christ,  in  unreserved  obedience,  in 
all  things,  at  all  times,  in  every  circumstance,  through  life, 
in  death,  and  through  all  eternity.     Therefore,  in  dismiss- 


216  DIVINITY   or   CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

ing  this  point,  we  remind  you  of  a  few  features  of  the  case 
that  have  passed  in  review  before  us.  We  see  the  bigoted 
Pharisee  become  a  firm  believer  in  Jesus  Christ ;  the  man 
who  so  recently  blasphemed  the  blessed  Saviour,  now  re- 
cognizing him  as  the  supreme  object  of  his  worship ;  the 
heart  so  lately  filled  with  pride  and  arrogance,  mehed  into 
profound  contrition ;  the  soul  burdened  with  guih,  now 
set  at  liberty ;  he  who  had  hated  the  disciples,  now  em- 
bracing them  as  beloved  brethren  in  Christ ;  he  who  had 
wasted  the  church,  now  building  her  walls  ;  he  who  had 
opposed  the  gospel,  now  proclaiming  its  sublime  truths. 
Finally,  he  who  had  martyred  others  for  their  faith  in 
Christ,  is  martyred  for  the  same  cause.  Who,  therefore, 
can  doubt  that  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  the  subject  of  a  univer- 
sal change  of  faith,  practice,  and  heart  ?  We  pass  to  notice 
the  second  member  of  this  subject,  namely, — 

II.  That  the  change  in  Saul  demonstrates  the  divine  cha- 
racter of  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  conversion  of  Saul  will  ever  be  a  source  of  encou- 
ragement to  awakened  sinners,  and  of  rejoicing  to  pious 
Christians ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  been,  and  still 
will  be,  an  occasion  of  great  offense  to  bigoted  Pharisees, 
skeptics,  and  infidels.  The  former  look  upon  it  as  a  mer- 
ciful display  of  the  supernatural  and  saving  grace  of  God ; 
the  latter,  as  a  striking  exhibition  of  human  weakness, 
either  of  hypocrisy,  fanaticism,  or  superstition.  This  fact 
was  illustrated  soon  after  Saul's  conversion,  in  his  defense 
before  Agrippa.  While  he  related  his  experience  with  an 
"unction"  that  "almost  persuaded  the  king  to  become  a 
Christian,"  the  pride  and  infidelity  of  Festus  determined 
him  to  account  for  it  on  other  grounds  than  that  of  the 
grace  of  God ;  and  he  exclaimed,  "  with  a  loud  voice,  Paul, 
thou  art  beside  thyself;  much  learning  doth  make  thee 
mad."  My  brethren,  the  issue  is  joined,  and  the  moral 
conflict  is  in  progress.  Could  infidelity  disprove  the  di- 
vinity of  Saul's  conversion,  its  triumph  would  be  great ;  but 
while  this  stands  as  a  cheering  instance  of  the  saving 
power  of  God,  and  the  church  is  faithful  to  her  holy  call- 
ing, its  final  defeat  is  inevitable.  In  showing,  in  our  way, 
that  the  conversion  of  Paul  was  emphatically  the  work  of 
God,  we  may  subject  ourself  to  the  charge  of  cold  formal- 
ity ;  but  this  is  a  small  matter,  compared  with  the  import- 


XV.]  DIVINITY    OF   CHRISTIANITY.  217 

ance  of  a  plain  exhibition  of  divine  trutli.  To  make  this 
point  plain,  it  may  be  stated,  without  fear  of  successful 
contradiction,  that  his  conversion  was  either  real  and  di- 
vine, or  it  was  delusive — a  deception.  If  this  conversion 
was  a  delusion,  which  infidelity,  in  its  various  modifica- 
tions, maintains,  it  follows  of  necessity,  that  Saul  was  either 
the  deceived,  or  the  deceiver ;  that  by  some  agency  or 
other  advantage  was  taken  of  him,  and  he  was  converted 
into  an  enthusiast,  or  a  fanatic  ;  or  that  he  feigned  or 
affected  this  change  in  order  to  deceive  others.  Let  us 
see  if  there  are  reasons  to  believe  that  he  was  deceived. 
If  such  was  the  fact,  his  deception  must  be  considered  in 
the  light  of  an  effect,  and  must,  of  necessity,  be  dependent 
on  an  adequate  cause.  To  suppose  the  contrary  is  per- 
fectly unreasonable,  is  preposterous  and  absurd.  On  this 
supposition,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  inquire  whether 
Saul  was  a  probable  subject  to  be  transformed  so  suddenly 
into  an  enthusiast,  or  a  fanatic.  Few,  if  any,  will  doubt 
that  generally,  if  not  always,  fanaticism  finds  its  victims  and 
does  its  work  among  the  less  intellectual  and  less  informed 
of  mankind — those  who  know  least  of  themselves,  least  of 
men  and  things  with  which  they  are  surrounded,  least  of 
the  world  in  which  they  live.  But  was  this  the  character 
of  Saul  ?  By  no  means  ;  but  just  the  reverse.  His  vdiole 
history  shows  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  the  first  grade 
of  intellect,  and  not  less  distinguished  for  his  attainments 
in  the  science  and  literature  of  the  age  in  which  he  liA^ed  ; 
while  for  firmness  and  energy  of  character  he  w^as,  if  pos- 
sible, still  more  remarkable,  presenting  a  character  least 
likely  of  all  others  to  be  deluded  into  a  belief  in  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  he  so  ardently  abhorred,  and  the  love  and 
fellowship  of  his  disciples,  whom  he  so  violently  persecuted 
and  martyred.  The  man  that  can  believe  this,  can  believe 
not  only  without  evidence,  but  in  the  face  of  demonstration 
to  tlie  contrary.  But,  furthermore,  on  the  assumption 
that  Saul  was  deceived,  there  must  have  been  a  deceiver. 
Of  this  no  one  can  doubt.  Who,  then,  was  the  deceiver  ? 
To  cover  the  whole  ground,  and  leave  none  for  doubt  or 
evasion,  we  remark : — If  he  was  deceived,  it  must  have 
been  either  by  the  divine  Being,  or  by  angels,  or  by  men. 
But  the  bare  mention  of  the  first  alternative  is  a  sufficient 
refutation.     The  thouffht,  indulged  for  a  moment,  that  the 

10 


218  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

Lord  can  deceive,  is  blasphemy!  And  if  Saul  was 
deceived  by  angels  or  men,  another  consequence  follows  to 
an  absolute  certainty — namely,  that  they  were  either 
morally  good  or  bad  agents,  whether  angels  or  men.  But 
to  suppose  that  good  men  or  angels  could  deliberately  plan 
and  pass  a  deception  upon  man,  is  not  only  in  opposition  to 
every  principle  of  the  moral  code  of  the  Bible,  and  in  vio- 
lation of  every  enlightened  conscience,  but  it  involves  a 
perfect  absurdity,  a  moral  impossibility,  inasmuch  as  it 
supposes  an  honest  deceiver — a  truthful  liar — a  pious 
hypocrite  !  And  hence  skepticism  has  no  alternative,  on 
the  assumption  that  he  was  deceived,  but  that  he  was  de- 
luded into  a  belief  of  Christianity  by  unholy  agents.  This 
is  so  perfectly  opposed  to  the  depravity  of  the  human 
heart — the  carnal  mind  in  man, — to  what  sinners  suppose 
to  be  their  interest, — to  the  history  of  the  wicked,  and  the 
motives  by  which  they  act, — in  a  word,  is  so  preposterous, 
that  it  scarcely  deserves  a  passing  remark.  Your  own  ob- 
servation and  experience,  my  hearers,  are  an  unanswer- 
able refutation  of  this  almost  stupid  assumption. 

Where  do  you  see  sinners  laboring  to  turn  the  ungodly 
to  Christ  ?  Where  do  you  see  them  striving  to  thin  their 
own  ranks,  by  swelling  the  number  of  Christians  ?  Where 
do  you  see  them  planning  or  toihng  to  diminish  the  foun- 
tain of  moral  corruption  and  vice,  by  increasing  the  streams 
of  Christian  piety  and  holiness  ?  Nowhere  in  all  your  ob- 
servation. Or  when  did  you  ever  witness  this  ?  Never  ; 
no,  never.  But  should  v/e  inquire  when,  and  where,  you 
have  seen  the  wicked  lahoring,  not  only  to  retain  their  as- 
sociates in  sin,  but  to  seduce  tlie  pious  into  their  paths, 
3^our  recollections  might  furnish,  in  nnswer,  many  painful 
examples.  But  vrhat  says  experience  on  this  subject?  No 
doubt,  many  that  hear  me  find  a  record  in  their  own  breast, 
that  while  they  wei'c  sinners,  so  far  from  attempting  to  con- 
vert others  to  Christ,  they  resisted  the  convictions  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  on  their  own  hearts,  and  encouraged  others  in 
the  same  rebellion.  And  the  I'aets  in  your  own  case  are 
but  an  exemplification  of  unrenewed  human  nature  ;  what 
is,  has  been — is  now — and  ever  will  be,  till  changed  by  the 
power  of  divine  grace.  But  why  spend  time  on  this  point? 
The  man  who  maintains  the  position  we  here  oppose,  has 
not  only  renounced  the  Bible,  but  he  must  contradict  his 


XV.]  ,        DIVINITY    OF   CHKISTIANITY.  219 

own  experience,  his  own  observation- — the  experience  and 
observations  of  mankind  generally.  He  must  not  only 
believe  in  the  absence  of  evidence,  but  against  all  rational 
evidence,  and  congregate  in  himself  the  follies  and  absurd- 
ities he  would  charge  upon  others.  Such  a  character  has 
passed  beyond  the  reach  of  reason ;  but  we  will  still  follow 
him  by  our  love  for  his  soul,  and  our  prayers  for  his  sal- 
vation. But  a  remark  further  on  this  point.  Commenta- 
tors have  made  concessions,  of  which  infidelity  has  not 
been  slow  to  avail  itself,  in  order  to  account  for  the  con- 
version of  Saul  on  other  principles  than  that  of  the  power 
of  divine  grace.  It  has  been  conceded,  or  supposed,  that 
the  light  that  shone  around  Saul  above  the  brightness  of 
the  sun  at  noonday,  and  the  sound  that  accompanied  it, 
under  which  he  "  trembled,"  was  only  that  of  lightning  and 
thunder,  and  that  it  was  the  natural  eifect  of  the  elective 
fluid  that  produced  his  blindness.,  Infidelity,  well  pleased 
with  this  concession,  maintains  that  Saul's  vivid  and  af- 
frighted imagination  created  all  the  other  supposed  facts, 
converted  this  common  operation  of  nature  into  a  super- 
natural visitation,  and  was  se//-deceived. 

On  this  useless,  not  to  say  vain,  speculation,  we  make  a 
few  passing  remarks. 

And  first,  to  Christians.  If  this  circumstance  was  only 
a  sublime  operation  of  nature,  as  supposed  above,  Saul 
either  knew  it  to  be  such,  or  he  did  not.  To  say  that 
he  did  not  know  the  common  operations  of  nature  in  a 
thunder-storm,  is  not  only  to  convert  him  into  a  fanatic, 
but  a  fool !  And  if  he  did  know  it,  then  is  it  not  impossi- 
ble to  defend  his  character  for  truth  and  honesty  ?  For  in 
every  instance  in  which  he  speaks  of  his  conversion,  he 
treats  the  whole  case  as  a  supernatural  display  of  divine 
power  and  grace,  without  the  least  intimation  to  the  con- 
trary. For  example,  when  he  refers  to  his  conversion  in 
Acts  xxii,  he  says,  "  And  when  I  could  not  see  for  the 
glory  of  that  light,"  if  he  did  not  design  to  deceive,  he 
should,  in  truth  and  moral  honesty,  have  said,  "  And  when 
I  could  not  see  for  the  effects  of  the  electric  fluid !"  or,  in 
common  language,  having  been  stunned  or  struck  with 
lightning !  But  Paul  was  incapable  of  such  evasion  ;  and 
all  such  speculations,  by  Christians,  are  much  more  likely 
to  hinder  than  help  the  cause  of  truth  and  holiness.     And 


220  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

secondly,  we  turn  now  for  a  few  minutes  to  the  unbeliever, 
and  allow  him  all  the  advantages  he  can  derive  from  the 
concessions  of  commentators  and  divines.  And  still  more. 
He  may  invest  this  natural  scene,  as  he  claims  it  to  be, 
with  all  the  powers  he  may  choose ;  and  bring  it  to  ope- 
rate on  Saul,  and  produce  all  the  change  that  was  wrought 
in  him,  and  thus  reach  his  conclusion  to  his  entire  satis- 
faction, that  all  the  change  of  which  he  was  the  subject 
was  effected  by  the  grand  display  of  nature  in  the  case 
above  supposed. 

And  when  we  allow  all  this,  what  follows  ?  Why,  just 
the  contrary  of  what  the  skeptic  wished  and  intended.  First, 
the  absurdity  that  ^physical  cause  can  produce  a  moral  effect. 
For  that  Paul  was  the  subject  of  a  moral  change  is  too 
plain  either  to  require  proof,  or  to  be  rendered  clearer  by  it. 
And  the  question  is  not,  whether  God  can  use  natural 
agents,  as  lightning,  or  anything  else,  as  means  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  sinners,  but  whether  they  can  effect  that 
thorough  moral  chcmge,  such  as  was  demonstrated  in  the 
case  of  Paul.  The  thought  is  preposterous  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  alike  contradictory  of  the  laws  of  nature,  the 
moral  constitution  of  man,  and  the  administration  of  God ! 

But,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  let  us  allow  that  Paul 
was  thus  morally  changed — that  the  entire  transformation 
of  his  moral  character,  as  evinced  in  his  subsequent  life  of 
continual  devotion  to  the  interest  of  religion,  was  all  attri- 
butable to  this  natural  cause  ;  and  what  follows  ?  AVhy, 
secondly,  we  are  conducted  to  a  stupendous  miracle  !  But 
why  all  this  tenacity  of  infidelity  to  account  for  the  con- 
version of  Saul  on  natural  principles  ?  For  this  specific 
reason:  to  avoid  the  miraculous,  supernatural  power  of 
divine  grace  in  the  conversion  of  sinners.  But  by  its 
own  course  of  reasoning,  instead  of  getting  rid  of  miracu- 
lous or  supernatural  power,  it  has  plunged  itself  into  the 
most  miraculous  scene  the  world  ever  witnessed  !  For  we 
may  safely  challenge  the  history  of  the  operations  of 
nature,  the  history  of  man,  and  the  history  of  the  divine 
administration,  to  produce  another  case  where  physical 
agents  produced  such  a  universal  moral  change  as  is 
found  in  the  case  of  Paul.  A  miracle  too,  where  the 
agent,  or  cause,  is  infinitely  inadequate  to  produce  the 
effect.     O!    the  blindness  of  infidelity,  and  the  follv  of 


XV.]  DIVINITY    OF   CHRISTIANITY.  221 

fallen  «nan,  in  attempting  to  evade  the  force  of  the  truth 
of  God !  Let  us  beware,  my  friends,  lest  we  be  taken  in 
their  snares,  and  ruin  our  souls.  But  if  Saul  was  not  de- 
ceived, he  was  the  deceiver.  This  is  frequently  insinuated 
or  asserted  by  those  who  claim  distinction  for  their  intelli- 
gence and  candor.  And  not  so  much  with  a  hope  of  con- 
vincing them,  as  of  preventing  others  from  falling  into 
their  pernicious  errors,  we  devote  a  few  minutes'  attention 
to  this  point.  On  the  assumption  that  Paul  was  the  im- 
postor, he  acted  either  with  or  without  object  or  motive. 
None  can  doubt  this ;  and  especially  those  who  charge  him 
with  insincerity.  Such  have  already  forestalled  themselves 
by  attributing  to  him  various  motives  for  deception.  And 
indeed,  to  suppose  that  he  acted  without  motive  in  chang- 
ing his  religion,  is  to  convert  him  into  a  madman  instead 
of  a  hypocrite !  It  follows,  therefore,  beyond  all  doubt, 
that  he  had  an  object,  a  well-defined  object  or  motive  in 
view  in  becoming  a  Christian. 

This  motive  must  have  had  special  reference  alone  to 
the  future  world ;  or  it  must  have  been  confined  alone  to 
this  world.  But  nothing  can  be  more  unreasonable  than  to 
suppose  that  Paul  could  draw  motives  from  the  eternal 
world  to  become  a  hypocrite.  He  was  before  and  after 
his  conversion  a  believer  in  the  resurrection,  a  future 
judgment  and  retribution,  the  endless  rewards  of  the  right- 
eous in  heaven,  and  the  endless  perdition  of  the  hypocrite 
and  unbeliever  in  hell.  Who,  then,  in  his  senses,  can  be- 
lieve that  Saul  could,  from  such  considerations,  be  induced 
to  become  a  hypocrite  ;  persist  in,  and  suffer  for  it,  through 
life,  and  for  it  provoke  a  violent  death,  with  no  other  hope 
than  to  lose  heaven,  and  suffer  the  anguish  of  the  second 
death  for  ever  ?  No  one  who  respects  himself,  or  wishes  to 
be  respected  by  others,  can  seriously  believe  this.  And 
then,  there  is  but  one  point  left  on  which  to  remark,  to  see 
if  he  was  the  deceiver.  If  he  was,  it  must  have  been  from 
considerations  confined  alone  to  this  world.  But,  my 
friends,  let  us  see  if  this  will  account  for  the  supposed  hy- 
pocrisy of  Paul.  What  are  the  most  prominent  worldly 
motives  which  prompt  depraved  and  ambitious  men  to 
action  ?  We  apprehend  that  if  wealth,  power,  honor,  ease, 
and  pleasure,  were  blotted  out  of  being,  and  nothing  of  a 
similar  character  take  their  place,  our  race  would  rarely 


222  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

ever  be  troubled  with  ambitious,  corrupt  aspirants  "for  dis- 
tinction. But  could  Paul  be  influenced  by  such  considera- 
tions ?  Look  at  but  a  few  facts.  With  regard  to  power, 
few  of  his  age  possessed  more  among  his  own  nation  as  a 
Jew  and  a  Pharisee,  with  every  reasonable  human  pros- 
pect of  its  increase,  even  to  the  extent  of  inflamed  ambi- 
tion ;  while  Christ  proclaimed,  and  doubtless  Paul  knew 
the  fact,  "  He  that  will  be  great,  or  the  chief  among  my 
disciples,  must  be  servant  of  all." 

In  relation  to  wealth  and  honor,  the  usual  attendants 
on  power,  the  prospects  of  Saul,  as  a  Jew,  were  not  less 
flattering ;  while  he  knew,  that  to  become  a  follower  of 
Christ,  he  must  go  forth  into  the  world  without  the  second 
coat — without  purse  or  scrip — only  to  be  hated  of  those 
who  were  strangers  to  Christ  and  the  power  of  his  saving 
grace.  If  ease  and  pleasure  in  this  world  were  his  object ; 
with  his  talents,  his  attainments,  the  public  confidence  re- 
posed in  him,  the  public  trusts  confided  to  him,  the  honors 
and  distinctions  conferred  on  him,  as  a  Jew :  these  were 
spread  out  before  him  with  all  their  enchantments.  While 
if  he  is  Christ's  disciple,  all  these  must  be  sacrificed ;  he 
must  deny  himself,  take  up  the  cross,  and  follow  his  Mas- 
ter through  poverty,  persecutions,  perils,  suiferings,  and 
death. 

Who,  then,  my  brethren,  can  for  a  moment  believe, 
without  abjuring  all  reason,  that  Saul  was  induced,  from 
worldly  motives,  to  assume  the  character  of  a  Christian, 
being  a  mere  hypocrite  at  heart  ?  It  follows,  then,  most 
conclusively,  that  if  Saul  was  the  subject  of  a  universal 
change  in  matters  of  religion,  as  we  have  seen  that  he 
was,  and  that  in  this  change  he  was  not  deceived  him- 
self; and  that  he  could  not  have  designed  to  deceive 
others ;  then  it  was  emphatically  the  work  of  God.  View- 
ed in  this  light,  the  subject  is  freed  from  all  embarrass- 
ment, and  rises  before  us  in  all  its  moral  grandeur,  as  a 
glorious  triumph  of  the  saving  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

Here  is  the  "  chief  of  sinners,"  grossly  ignorant  of  the 
true  character  and  worship  of  God  ;  blaspheming  the  name 
of  Christ ;  with  hands  stained  in  innocent  blood  ;  "breath- 
ing out  slaughter  and  death  "  against  the  infant  church ; 
i^nd  with  authority  to  execute  his  cruel  designs  upon  the 


XV.]  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  223 

saints  of  God ;  arrested — a  trembling  penitent  at  the  feet 
of  Jesus,  consecrates  himself  to  his  service — ^believes  in 
his  vicarious  death — is  pardoned — regenerated,  filled  with 
love  to  God  and  man ;  unites  himself  with  the  poor  perse- 
cuted disciples  of  Christ ;  takes  upon  him  all  the  obligations 
of  Christianity ;  devotes  himself  to  the  ministry ;  lives  a 
life  of  unexampled  labor,  and  dies  a  martyr ;  evincing  at 
every  step,  from  his  conversion  to  his  death,  a  universal 
moral  change  of  he^rt  and  life.  But  to  whom  shall  we 
attribute  this  glorious  work  ?  Not  to  man.  All  his  pow- 
ers and  skill  are  perfect  weakness.  Not  to  angels.  They 
are  infinitely  inadequate  to  the  task.  But  to  the  virtue  of 
the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  applied  to  the  penitent  be- 
liever's heart  by  the  matchless  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  received  and  enjoyed  by  the  power  of  living  and  con- 
fiding faith  only.  O,  my  friends,  let  us  examine.  Have 
we  the  evidence  in  our  hearts,  that  we  are  the  subjects  of 
this  saving  change ;  have  received  an  application  of  that 
cleansing  blood,  and  are  the  children  of  God,  by  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ  ?  But  we  pass  to  the  last  member  of  this 
subject. 

III.  That  the  conduct  of  Saul,  under  the  divine  admin- 
istration, strikingly  exemplifies  that  obedience  that  all  men 
Give  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  their  only  Saviour. 

And,  first,  as  an  awakened  sinner.  He  was  brought,  by 
divine  influence,  to  see  that  he  was  in  open  rebellion 
against  the  Lord,  that  he  was  exposed  to  perdition,  and 
made  to  feel  the  anguish  of  a  guilty  conscience,  and  the 
burden  of  sin  on  his  polluted  heart.  And  although  his 
conviction  of  sin  was  the  resistless  work  of  God  on  his 
heart,  it  did  not  necessarily  compel  obedience.  But  life  and 
death  were  set  before  him,  and  he  was  called  to  decide  for 
eternity.  The  grace  that  called,  would  enable  him  to 
choose  life  ;  and  he  could  refuse,  only  at  the  peril  of  his 
soul.  He  might,  with  sinners  at  the  present  day,  have 
plead  exemption,  or  delay ;  and  with  much  more  show  of 
reason  than  some  who,  possibly,  hear  me  at  this  hour.  He 
might  have  excused  himself  from  immediate  obedience  on 
the  ground  of  peculiar  circumstances.  He  might  have 
urged,  that  his  being  a  stranger,  far  from  home  and  friends, 
was  unfavorable  to  his  embracing  the  religion  of  Christ, 
then  and  there :  that  he  was  a  public  character,  an  offi- 


224  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

cer ;  the  public  eye  was  upon  him  ;  if  he  received  Christ  as 
his  Saviour  it  would  be  looked  upon  as  an  act  of  unpar- 
donable treachery,  and  bring  great  reproach  upon  the 
cause  of  Christ.  He  might  have  plead  for  time  to  return 
home — resign  his  trust  to  those  who  had  conferred  it — ar- 
range his  business,  so  as  to  give  as  little  offense  as  possible 
to  unbelievers,  and  bring  no  odium  on  the  cause  of  Christ. 
And  then  he  would  become  religious,  embrace  the  Sa- 
viour, and  devote  himself  wholly  to  ^is  service.  O  my 
friends,  how  much  of  this  vain  reasoning,  this  worldly  wis- 
dom, do  we  find  among  the  unconverted  at  this  day  ! 
How  many  are  there  who,  though  not  under  the  same  cir- 
cumstances of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  have,  nevertheless,  been 
made  to  feel  that  they  are  sinners  against  God ;  and  so 
clear  has  been  their  conviction,  that  they  could  as  soon 
doubt  their  own  existence,  as  that  they  are  guilty  offenders 
against  the  laws  of  God !  He  has  a  record  in  their  own 
breast,  as  undeniable  as  the  fact  of  their  OM^n  being ;  and 
yet  they  continue  in  sin  !  They  plead  peculiarity  of  cir- 
cumstance— their  connections  in  society — their  office,  or 
some  worldly  consideration,  for  still  deferring  their  return 
to  Christ — for  shunning  the  light,  stopping  their  ears 
against  divine  truth,  grieving  the  Holy  Spirit,  rejecting 
the  offers  of  salvation,  and  ruining  their  souls.  O  my  un- 
converted friends,  pause  and  consider — think  of  your  dan- 
ger, and  fly  to  Christ  for  mercy.  And  for  your  example 
and  encouragement  look  again  at  Saul.  Convicted  of  sin : 
does  he  delay  his  return  to  the  Saviour  ?  Not  a  moment ! 
But,  "trembling  and  astonished,"  he  surrenders  all  to 
Christ.  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  This 
remarkable  confession  of  Saul  contains  several  particu- 
lars that  cannot  be  too  seriously  considered,  or  too  closely 
imitated  by  the  awakened  sinner.  (1.)  His  heart  is  af- 
fected, "he  trembles."  O  sinner,  lay  your  heart  open  to 
the  searching  light  of  truth,  and  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and 
it  will  feel  the  full  power  of  awakening  grace,  and  you 
will  tremble.  Better  tremble  within  the  reach  of  saving 
mercy,  than  in  the  midst  of  endless  wailings  and  anguish. 
(2.)  He,  with  all  his  talents  and  attainments,  confessed  his 
ignorance,  and  his  willingness  to  be  taught.  "  Lord,  what 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  "  I  am  a  poor  sinner,  ignorant 
of  Christ.     All  the  lights  of  this  world  cannot  show  me 


XV.]  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  225 

the  way  to  the  cross,  without  which  I  am  undone  for  ever. 
O  Lord,  teach  me  !"  And  you,  dying  fellow -man,  must 
feel  and  make  the  same  confession.  Whatever  importance 
you  may  have  attached  to  yourself — however  brilliant  the 
gifts  of  nature  or  distinguished  your  acquirements — what- 
ever may  be  the  splendor  of  your  character  and  reputa- 
tion, they  cannot  lead  you  to  the  Lamb  of  God.  They  will 
all  be  but  false  lights,  and  lead  you  down  to  perdition,  if 
divine  light  and  teaching  are  rejected.  With  a  heart-af- 
fecting sense  of  your  ignorance  of  God  and  heaven,  and  the 
work  of  salvation  on  the  soul,  you  must  sacrifice  all  for 
Christ,  and  fly  to  the  virtue  of  his  atoning  blood,  as  your 
only  refuge  from  the  threatening  penalty  of  God's  angry 
and  violated  law.  (3.)  He  obeyed  the  divine  call  by  a 
practical  faith.  His  humble  supplication,  "  Lord,  what 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  was  answered :  "  Arise,  and  go 
into  the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do." 
This  first  specific  duty  was  most  humiliating  to  the  carnal 
heart.  It  was  not  only  a  defeat  of  his  most  sanguine  plans 
and  purposes,  but  perfectly  mortifying  to  his  ambition  and 
pride.  To  be  led,  a  poor,  blind  supplicant  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus,  into  that  very  city  where  he  had  expected  to  enter 
by  authority,  and  spread  terror  and  dismay  among  the  dis- 
ciples of  that  Lord  whose  mercy  he  now  implored.  But 
he  had  to  submit  by  faith  to  this  requirement.  The  Lord 
did  not  promise  him  mercy  or  pardon  if  he  obeyed ;  and 
he  did  not  know  but  that  he  was  commanded  into  the  city 
to  be  made  a  public  example  of  the  justice  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  for  his  cruelty  to  his  followers.  The  future, 
for  the  time  being,  was  concealed,  and  he  must  obey  the 
Lord  by  faith,  or  not  at  all.  0  what  a  trial  to  a  guilty 
sinner  !  But  his  whole  soul  must  be  subdued  to  the  divine 
will ;  nothing  short  of  this  sacrifice  of  earthly  hopes,  pride, 
self-mil,  and  every  other  passion  of  a  depraved  heart, 
could  effect  the  object.  But  this  is  the  victory  that  over- 
cometh  the  world,  even  our  faith.  Saul  followed  the  rising 
light,  obeyed  the  requirement,  by  humble  trust  in  the  great 
mercy  of  Jesus  Christ,  went  into  the  city,  fasted,  prayed, 
struggled,  believed,  and  found  salvation,  was  filled  with  the 
love  of  Christ,  and  rejoiced  in  the  witness  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  that  he  was  born  from  above,  and  was  a  child  of 
God. 

10* 


226  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  [&%&. 

And  now,  my  dying  hearers,  your  hearts  must  be  sub- 
dued, and  you  must  receive  Christ  by  faith,  or  be  undone 
for  ever.  If  he  command  you  to  go  into  the  city,  which, 
in  your  case,  may  be  to  sever  long-cherished  associations 
with  sinners — abandon  unholy  trade  or  business — reform 
excessive  habits — mortify  the  pride  of  a  selfish  and  cor- 
rupt heart — ^bow  at  the  mourners'  bench,  and  ask  the 
prayers  of  the  church  of  Christ;  delay  not  a  moment, 
make  the  sacrifice,  and  by  faith,  confiding  faith,  faith  that 
will  cast  the  entire,  the  eternal  interests  of  the  soul,  on  the 
virtue  of  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  fly  to  the  Saviour, 
and,  like  Saul,  fast  and  pray — wait  at  the  cross  till  Christ 
removes  the  guilt,  and  renews  thy  soul  in  his  own  glorious 
image,  and  you  rejoice  in  a  present  and  full  salvation. 
But,  secondly,  if  we  contemplate  Paul  as  a  Christian, 
his  example  is  equally  worthy  of  imitation  by  all.  Now,  a 
sinner  saved  by  grace,  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  salva- 
tion by  the  remission  of  past  sins,  he  hastens  to  take  upon 
himself,  without  delay  or  reserve,  all  the  responsibilities 
of  Christianity.  He  confesses  Christ  in  the  sacraments, 
in  the  belief  and  practice  of  his  word,  among  the  most  ob- 
scure and  despised  of  his  followers,  before  his  most  pow- 
erful and  malignant  enemies.  He  hesitates  not  to  com- 
mit himself  as  a  Christian,  and  in  favor  of  Christ  and  his 
cause,  everywhere,  and  in  all  circumstances  in  life.  The 
glory  of  the  Lord  is  his  steady  aim,  and  his  service  his 
constant  business  and  delight,  till  death  closes  the  scenes 
and  toils  of  earth.  But,  my  Christian  friends,  how  many 
follow  Paul  as  he  followed  Christ  in  these  particulars  ? 
How  many  make  shipwreck  of  a  gracious  work  of  God, 
wrought  on  their  hearts  in  the  days  of  their  penitency,  by 
shunning  the  cross,  neglecting  to  deny  themselves,  and  to 
acknowledge  Christ  and  his  cause  always  before  men  ? 
Too  many,  it  is  to  be  feared,  after  they  are  converted,  be- 
gin the  work  of  ruin  on  their  religious  enjoyments,  by 
seeking  popular  church  relations.  Their  inquiry  is  not, 
where  are  the  humble,  plain,  self-denying,  cross-bearing, 
praying,  faithful,  holy  people  of  God,  whose  fellowship 
will  help  them  on  the  way  to  heaven  ?  but,  where  shall  I 
find  the  wealthy,  fashionable,  popular  church  ?  And  when 
they  have  found  such  a  one,  it  frequently  proves  to  them 
the  house  of  death  !     Instead  of,  like  Paul,  being  crucified 


XV.]  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  227 

to  the  world,  walking  by  faith,  pressing  to  the  mark  of  the 
prize  of  their  high  calling,  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear 
of  God,  rejoicing  evermore,  praying  without  ceasing,  and 
in  everything  giving  thanks,  being  filled  with  the  perfect 
love  of  God ;  they  have  but  the  form  of  godliness,  while 
they  deny  its  power.  Others  are  unwilling  wholly  to  com- 
mit themselves  in  favor  of  religion,  for  fear  of  the  cross. 
Some  are  not  yet  ready  to  sacrifice  all  the,  so  called, 
innocent  amusements  and  fashions  of  the  world ;  while 
another  class  excuse  themselves  from  emulating  this  ex- 
ample, from  want  of  gifts  and  qualifications.  From  these 
and  other  causes  of  unfaithfulness  to  Christ,  the  moral 
power  of  the  church  has  been  greatly  paralized,  and  her 
usefulness,  in  proportion,  lost  to  our  fallen  race. 

All  these  classes  of  pretenders  to  religion  should  awake 
speedily  to  vigorous  and  holy  action :  for  the  clouds  of 
a  dismal  night  are  stealing  around  them ;  the  storm  of 
death  is  heard  in  the  distance  ;  the  retributions  of  eternity 
are  fast  apj)roaching ;  the  horrors  of  an  endless  night 
await  them  ;  and  nothing  but  a  speedy  reformation,  and  a 
holy  emulation  of  Paul  as  a  Christian,  will  avert  the  fear- 
ful consequences  of  denying  Christ,  and  secure  to  them, 
with  Paul,  the  glories  of  heaven. 

Thirdly,  before  we  close,  we  will  spend  a  few  minutes 
in  vicAving  Paul  from  another  point,  namely,  as  a  minister 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Under  other  circumstances  we  might 
here  enlarge ;  but,  at  the  present,  the  notice  of  a  few  par- 
ticulars only  will  suffice.  And  first,  his  call  to  the  arduous 
work  was  of  God :  "  I  received  it  not  of  man,  nor  by  the 
will  of  man,  but  of  God."  Then  let  no  man,  whatever  his 
real  or  supposed  qualifications  may  be,  dare  to  enter  into 
this  holy  work,  without  his  convictions  are  as  clear  that  he 
is  called  of  God,  as  they  are  that  he  is  a  sinner  saved  by 
jrace,  and  has  the  witness  of  God  in  his  heart  that  he  is 
accepted  of  him  through  Jesus  Christ.  Secondly,  when 
called,  he  immediately  obeyed :  "  He  conferred  not  with 
flesh  and  blood,  but  straightway  preached  Jesus."  And 
though  it  is  probable  he  did  not  enter  fully  upon  the  regu- 
lar work  of  the  ministry  for  some  time  after  his  conversion, 
he  was,  nevertheless,  perfectly  submissive  to  his  call,  and 
in  the  order  of  divine  Providence.  But  is  there  no  reason 
to  fear,  that  there  are  some  who  either  run  before  they  are 


228  DIVINITY  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

called,  or  refuse  to  go  when  called  ?  Let  all  concerned  be- 
ware :  there  are  eternal  interests  involved  in  this  awful  sub- 
ject. And  who  can  determine,  till  the  light  of  eternity  re- 
veals the  facts,  who  is  the  greatest  delinquent — he  who  goes 
before  he  is  called,  or  he  who  refuses  when  called  to  this 
work  ?  In  the  third  place,  his  sufficiency  as  a  minister  was 
all  of  grace  through  faith  in  Christ.  Christ  was  his  "  wis- 
dom, righteousness,  sanctification,  and  redemption."  He 
lived,  yet  "  Christ  lived  in  him."  He  had  this  glorious 
gospel  treasure  in  an  "  earthen  vessel,  that  the  excellency 
of  the  power  might  be  of  God."  And  truly,  "  who  is  suf- 
ficient for  these  things  ?"  only  as  they  are  wise  in  the  wis- 
dom of  Christ,  strong  in  his  strength,  and  walk  in  the  light 
as  he  is  in  the  light,  that  they  may  have  fellowship  with 
the  Father  and  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  through  the  indwell- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Fourthly,  his  theme  was  the 
cross.  His  motto  was,  "  For  I  determined  to  know  nothing 
among  you  but  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified."  "  God 
forbid  that  I  should  glory  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  which  I  am  crucified  to  the  world,  and  the 
world  to  me."  Christ,  the  demonstration  of  the  love  of 
God  to  fallen  man — Christ,  the  vicarious  sacrifice  for  our 
sins;  the  only  meritorious  cause  of  our  redemption  and 
salvation — Christ,  the  risen  Redeemer;  the  pledge  and 
model  of  the  future  glory  of  the  saints  ;  and  our  glonous 
Advocate  with  the  Father — Christ,  as  a  willing,  present, 
perfect,  and  almighty  Saviour — Christ  Jesus,  the  Judge  of 
the  world.  And  O !  what  a  glorious  theme  for  the  mes- 
senger of  God!  Full  of  merit  for,  and  mercy  toward, 
man.  And  who  is  worthy  the  name  or  i>lace  of  an  ambas- 
sador of  Christ  who  comes  to  ruined  man  Avith  any  other 
theme?  What  are  the  flowers  of  rhetoric — the  show  of 
logic — the  lustre  of  literature  and  science — the  sparklings 
of  wit  or  genius,  compared  with  the  cross  ?  Wo  to  that 
man  who  attempts  to  substitute  these,  or  anything  else,  for 
the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ:  he  will  be  a  curse  to  himself, 
the  church,  and  the  world.  Finally,  he  acknowledged 
himself  debtor  to  all,  and  his  duty,  according  to  his  holy 
calling,  to  preach  Christ  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of 
our  fallen  race.  And  while  he  offered  present  salvation 
by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  to  crowded  multitudes,  he  ceased 
not  day  and  night  to  warn  others  with  tears  from  house  to 


XV.]  DIVINITY  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  229 

house.  He  was  alike  faithful  in  proclaiming  the  cross  of 
Christ,  whether  he  addressed  a  trembling  jailer,  or  the 
affrighted  mariner  driven  by  the  angry  waves  on  his 
broken  ship  ;  whether  he  preached  to  the  furious  mob  in 
the  streets,  or  royalty  with  its  splendid  retinue  in  the 
palace  ;  whether  he  proclaimed  salvation  in  Athens,  or  in 
Rome,  the  mistress  of  the  world,  he  was  the  same  faithful 
messenger  of  God.  "  Warning  every  man  and  teaching 
every  man ;  that  he  might  present  them  perfect  in  Christ 
Jesus."  But  this  is  not  all :  so  far  from  seeking  ease  in 
the  evening  of  life,  his  labors,  sacrifices,  and  zeal,  appear 
to  have  increased  with  his  age  and  the  roll  of  time,  till, 
through  the  riches  of  divine  grace,  he  was  transmitted 
from  the  toils  of  earth  to  the  endless  glories  of  heaven. 
And,  O  my  brethren  in  the  ministry,  though  none  may 
surpass  Paul,  and  few  reach  his  glorious  eminence,  yet  all 
may  emulate  his  faithfulness,  purity,  zeal,  and  usefulness, 
and  share  at  last  in  his  eternal  glory.  And  if  this  were 
the  character  and  aim  of  the  ministry  throughout  Christen- 
dom, God  would  make  them  the  distinguished  and  highly 
honored  instruments  of  arousing  a  languid  church — waking 
a  sleeping  world,  and  bringing  unnumbered  millions  of 
mankind  home  to  glory  and  to  God,  to  join  the  redeemed 
of  every  age  and  clime  in  the  triumphant  shout — "  Hal- 
lelujah, the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth." 

We  close  with  a  few  remarks.  And  first,  we  have  seen 
that  it  is  exclusively  the  work  of  God  to  convict  the  sin- 
ner, and  convert  and  save  the  soul.  All  other  power  is 
absolute  weakness,  and  infinitely  inadequate  to  justify,  re- 
generate, sanctify,  and  save  the  soul  of  sinful  man.  But, 
secondly,  though  this  is  the  work  of  God,  he  requires  of 
man  faith — unqualified  faith  and  obedience — as  the  only 
conditions  of  salvation  ;  and  God  can  no  more,  consistently 
with  his  own  perfections,  save  the  sinner  without  faith, 
than  the  sinner  can  save  himself  without  the  grace  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus.  O  then,  my  unconverted  friends,  come  to 
Christ.  Time  is  short:  life  is  uncertain.  The  thunder 
of  the  violated  law  of  God  hangs  over  your  head.  The 
horrors  of  an  endless  hell  are  moving  beneath  your  feet. 
Death  is  pursuing  you  ;  the  decisions  of  eternal  judgment 
are  just  before  you.  Your  soul  is  polluted  by  sin;  your 
conscience  bleeds   under   a    sense   of  anguish   and   guilt. 


230  DIVINITY   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  [SER. 

There  is  no  safety  for  you — no,  not  a  shadow  of  hope — but 
in  the  atoning  blood  of  Christ.  O  come  to  Christ  just  as 
you  are  ;  bring  your  burdened  heart — your  guilty  con- 
science. Come  now ;  come  and  confess  your  sins  ;  come 
praying.  O  come  by  faith — faith  that  confesses  all — that 
forsakes  all  sin — that  casts  all  your  burden  on  the  blessed 
Saviour :  faith  that  takes  Christ  at  his  word  ;  that  claims  and 
lays  hold  on  the  merit  of  his  blood  ;  that  appropriates  that 
blessed  merit  to  your  soul,  and  you  shall  be  saved.  You  shall 
be  saved  now — this  moment,  if  you  will  believe,  salvation 
will,  shall  descend  upon  your  heart ;  and  you  may  rejoice 
with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory — in  blissful  hope  of 
immortality  in  heaven.  Thirdly,  brethren  in  Christ,  who 
have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  good,  and  rejoice  in  a  present 
salvation,  let  the  example  of  Paul,  as  a  Christian,  stimulate 
you  to  constant  faithfulness  in  your  holy  calling.  Live  for 
perfect  love,  as  the  only  way  to  retain  your  Christian  faith 
and  enjoyment :  live  for  the  image  of  Christ  fully  im- 
pressed on  your  heart  by  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit: 
live  to  be  useful  in  the  church  of  Christ,  in  the  salvation 
of  precious  souls  :  live  by  faith  and  holiness  for  an  eternal 
weight  of  glory  in  heaven.  And  soon,  very  soon,  all  your 
trials  on  earth  will  terminate,  and  you  will  rest  with  the 
glorified  in  the  church  triumphant.  And,  finally,  let  the 
ministry  be  scrupulously  faithful  in  their  distinguished  and 
holy  calling ;  the  church  faithful  to  her  glorious  Head;  and 
his  salvation  shall  go  forth  as  brightness,  till  the  world 
shall  be  subdued  to  his  authority,  and  his  ransomed  chil- 
dren brought  home  to  his  eternal  glory.  May  the  Holy 
Spirit  seal  instruction  on  all  our  hearts,  and  bring  us 
at  last  to  the  glories  of  his  heavenly  kingdom  !     Amen. 


3tTI.l  THE  GREAT  SALVATION.  2S1 

SERMON   XVI. 

The  Great  Salvation  by  Jesus  Christ. 

BY  REV.  SAMUEL  LUCKEY,  D.  D., 

OF   THE   GENESEE    CONFERENCE. 

"  Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the  things 
which  we  have  heard,  lest  at  any  time  we  should  let  them  slip.  For 
if  the  word  spoken  hy  angels  was  steadfast,  and  every  transgression 
and  disobedience  received  a  just  recompense  of  reward ;  how  shall  we 
escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  1" — Heb,  ii,  1,  2, 

That  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death,  but  the  gift  of  God  is 
eternal  life,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,"  is  the  doctrine 
asserted  by  the  apostle  Paul  in  this  text. 

It  may  be  briefly  illustrated  thus: — The  fundamental 
law  of  an  empire  declares  treason  a  crime  punishable  with 
death.  This  law  must  be  rigorously  maintained  to  sustain 
the  dignity  and  supremacy  of  the  sovereign,  and  preserve 
the  empire  from  universal  anarchy.  Despite  of  the  law, 
individuals  array  themselves  in  open  rebellion  against  the 
sovereign  and  his  authority,  are  arraigned,  tried,  convicted, 
and  condemned  to  death.  They  now  feel  the  power  there 
is  in  the  law  to  condemn  ;  but  see  in  it  no  way  of  escape. 
They  are  informed,  however,  that  their  gracious  sovereign, 
in  the  plenitude  of  his  goodness,  has  provided  to  grant  par- 
don to  the  guilty,  on  certain  prescribed  conditions  ;  and 
that  he  will  save  them  from  suffering  the  full  penalty  of 
the  law  in  no  other  way.  They  are  careless  about  inquir- 
ing into  these  conditions  of  pardon,  or  dislike,  and  there- 
fore reject  them ;  and  persist  in  their  obstinacy  of  trying 
to  escape  by  some  other  means.  Anxious  friends  warn 
them  of  their  folly  and  their  danger.  They  constrain  them 
to  acknowledge  the  law,  that  it  is  just  and  good.  They  re- 
mind them  of  the  truth  and  justice  of  their  sovereign,  that 
he  will  maintain  the  integrity  of  his  government.  They 
urge  upon  them  a  consideration  of  his  abundant  goodness 
in  providing  a  way  of  pardon  for  those  who  deseve  his  dis- 
pleasure, on  terms  consistent  with  his  dignity  and  the  peace 
and  happiness  of  his  subjects,  and  every  way  suited  to  the 


232  THE  GREAT  SALVATION.  [SER. 

condition  of  tlie  guilty.  And  they  conclude  with  this  for- 
cible appeal : — "  If  the  law  by  which  you  stand  condemned 
be  '  steadfast,'  and,  by  its  terms,  '  every  transgression  and 
disobedience  receives  a  just  recompense  of  reward ;'  how 
can  you  '  escape  '  its  penalty,  if  you  '  neglect'  the  only  pro- 
vision your  sovereign  has  made  for  pardon  ?" 

That  the  doctrine  of  the  text,  as  applicable  to  the  condi- 
tion of  fallen  man,  is  what  this  simple  illustration  indi- 
cates, will  appear  evident,  if  we  consider, — 

I.  What  is  meant  by  "the  word  spoken  by 

ANGELS  ?" 

II.  What  by  "  so  great  salvation  ?" 

III.  The  conclusion  deduced  from  the  relation 
they  sustain  to  each  other  in  the  text. 

I.    What  is  meant  hy  "  the  icord  spoken  by  angels  ?" 

1.  The  law,  unquestionably,  as  contradistinguished  from 
the  gospel.  Of  the  fathers,  St.  Stephen  said,  "  Who  have 
received  the  law  by  the  disposition  of  angels  ;"  and  St. 
Paul  says,  "  It  was  ordained  by  angels  in  the  hands  of  a 
Mediator."  Whatever  interpretation  may  be  given  to 
these  forms  of  expression,  it  is  evident  that  St.  Paul  em- 
ploys "  the  word  spoken  by  angels  "  to  signify  "  the  law 
which  serveth  because  of  transgressions,"  in  contrast  vf'iih. 
the  "  great  salvation  :"  the  former  as  that  which  God  ''  at 
sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners  spake  unto  the  fa- 
thers "  by  instruments  of  his  own  choosing ;  the  latter  as 
that "  which  at  the  first  began  to  be  spoken"  authoritatively 
"  by  the  Lord  himself,  and  was  confirmed  by  them  that 
heard  him."  "It  is  evident,"  as  Mr.  Benson  remarks, 
"  that  not  the  original  authoritative  giving  of  the  law,  but 
the  ministerial  ordering  of  things  in  its  promulgation,  is 
that  which  is  ascribed  to  angels.  The  apostle  having  just 
insisted  (chap,  i)  on  a  comparison  between  Christ  and  the 
angels,  his  argument  is  greatly  corroborated  when  it  is 
considered,  that  the  law  w^as  the  word  spohen  by  angels ; 
but  the  gospel  was  delivered  by  the  Son,  who  is  so  far  ex- 
alted above  them." 

2.  When  in  this  connection  we  speak  of  laiv  as  contra- 
distinguished from  gospel,  we  mean  that  rule  of  moral  con- 
duct, of  both  heart  and  life,  to  which  God  exacts  perfect 
obedience  from  all  his  intelligent  creatures. 

If  God  be  acknowledged  as  a  moral  governor  at  all,  we 


XVI.]  THE  GREAT  SALVATION.  233 

cannot  avoid  the  conclusion  that  such  a  rule  of  action  was 
instituted  by  him  for  the  government  of  man.  "  The 
manner  in  which  God  governs  rational  creatures,"  says 
Mr.  Watson,  "  is  by  law,  as  the  rule  of  their  obedience  to 
him,  and  this  is  what  we  call  God's  moral  government  of 
the  world."  Under  such  a  rule  of  obedience,  comprising 
all  the  attributes  of  law  adapted  to  the  government  of  man, 
did  our  first  parents  exist  before  transgression.  This  law 
harmonizes  in  all  respects  with  the  attributes  of  its  Author ; 
and  under  its  provisions  eternal  life  is  suspended  upon  per- 
fect obedience  to  its  requirements.  As  law,  then,  it  is  per- 
fect in  itself,  containing  none  of  the  attributes  of  gospel — 
no  provision  for  the  pardon  of  transgressors,  or  salvation 
from  that  death  which  is  its  declared  penalty.  It  is  in  this 
respect  that  w^e  are  to  understand  the  apostle  as  contrasting 
"the  word  spoken  by  angels"  with  the  "great  salvation" 
procured  and  published  by  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  The  law  has  not  been  abrogated  by  the  introduction 
of  the  gospel ;  nor  has  its  claims  been  alienated,  or  its 
sanctions  abolished.  It  continues,  as  a  flaming  sword, 
guarding  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life,  that  none  may  ap- 
proach it  but  by  the  new  and  living  way  opened  up  in  the 
gospel — salvation  through  the  atonement,  by  faith  in  Christ. 

It  is  with  great  force  and  solemnity  that  the  apostle  in- 
troduces the  law — "  the  word  spoken  by  angels  " — as  the 
basis  of  his  argument,  and  places  before  the  mind  those  at- 
tributes which  make  it  terrible.  It  is  "  steadfast,"  settled, 
fixed,  firm,  inflexible,  unchanging,  and  unchangeable.  It 
will  not  halt,  nor  falter,  nor  turn  aside  from  its  steady  pur- 
pose, until  its  claims  are  answered,  and  its  demands  ful- 
filled. It  is  a  perfect  law  of  a  perfect  Lawgiver ;  and  the 
integrity  of  his  government  requires  that  it  should  be 
steadfast  and  invincible  in  all  its  exactions.  The  slightest 
relaxation  w^ould  prostrate  his  authority,  and  uproot  the 
very  foundations  of  his  government. 

No  truth  is  more  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures  than 
this.  The  w^hole  universe  is  invoked  in  the  name  of  Jeho- 
vah to  hear  it.  "  I  will  publish,"  said  Moses,  "  the  name 
of  Jehovah ;  ascribe  ye  greatness  to  our  God.  He  is  the 
rock,  his  work  is  perfect ;  for  all  his  ways  are  judgment ; 
a  God  of  truth,  and  w^ithout  iniquity  ;  just  and  right  is  he." 
His  own  perfections  of  justice  and  truth,  and  the  perfection 


^34  THE   GREAT   SALVATION.  [SER. 

of  his  law,  which  is  "  holy,  just,  and  good,"  stand  pledged 
for  the  steadfastness  of  its  demands. 

But  what  are  its  demands  ?  Holiness  of  heart  and  life  ; 
love  to  God  and  man.  Its  language  is  explicit  and  une- 
quivocal :  "  Be  ye  holy,  for  I  the  Lord  your  God  am 
holy."  "  Follow  peace  with  all  men,  and  holiness,  with- 
out which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."  "  Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind  ;  and 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  How  comprehensive !  How 
deep  and  searching  !  Exacting  perfect  conformity  to  the 
nature  and  requirements  of  a  holy  God ; — unvarying  love 
to  God  and  man  ! 

4.  To  perceive  the  force  of  the  apostle's  argument  it  is 
necessary  to  notice  the  prominence  he  gives  to  the  penal 
character  of  the  law.  "  Every  transgression  and  disobedi- 
ence received  a  just  recompense  of  reward."  This  is  its 
distinguishing  characteristic  as  law.  "  For  it  is  written, 
Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in  all  things 
which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  It 
is  "the  letter  which  killeth," — emphatically  "the  law  of 
sin  and  death."  Its  language  is  the  language  of  condem- 
nation to  the  guilty  :  "  For  if  there  had  been  a  law  which 
could  have  given  life,  verily  righteousness  should  have 
been  by  the  law.  But  the  Scripture  hath  concluded  all 
under  sin,  that  the  promise  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  might 
be  given  to  them  that  believe."  Not  the  promise  of  the 
law.  It  knows  not  the  language  of  promise.  On  the  con- 
trary, "  We  know  that  what  things  soever  the  law  saith, 
it  saith  to  them  that  are  under  the  law ;  that  every  mouth 
may  be  stopped,  and  all  the  world  may  become  guilty  be- 
fore God." 

By  its  terms,  "  every  transgression  and  disobedience" 
subjects  the  offenders  to  the  death  w^hich  is  its  penalty, 
while  it  provides  no  way  of  escape. 

5.  The  "just  recompense  of  reward"  is  this  penalty. 
"A  recompense,"  says  Mr.  Benson,  "proportionable  to  the 
crime,  according  to  the  judgment  of  God,  which  is  infinitely 
just  and  equal,  and  implies  that  they  who  commit  sin  'are 
worthy  of  death.' "  Death  is  the  penalty  of  the  law  :  "  The 
soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die." 

This  is,  plainly,  a  forfeiture  of  life — of  eternal  life — 


XVI,]  THE  GREAT  SALVATION.  23§ 

whicli,  under  the  law,  nothing  but  perfect  obedience  can 
insure.  Spiritual  life  is  communion  with  God,  in  righte- 
ousness and  holiness ;  and  in  its  nature  it  is  eternal  life, 
which  alone  will  insure  us  eternal  communion  with  God 
in  heaven.  This  life  is  forfeited  by  sin.  All  have  fallen 
under  the  curse ; — all  by  the  just  judgment  of  the  law 
"  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins,"  and  so  remain  until 
quickened  by  Christ.  The  penalty,  then,  being  a  for- 
feiture of  eternal  life,  is  eternal  death.  Eternal  life,  if 
ever  obtained  by  those  who  have  forfeited  it,  will  be,  not 
an  award  of  the  law,  but  "  the  gijl  of  God,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord."  Thus  is  the  penalty  of  the  law  eternal 
death.  It  cannot  be  otherwise  if  it  be  a  forfeiture  of  eter- 
nal life  ;  for,  if  it  were  necessarily  limited  in  its  duration, 
it  would  not  be  a  forfeiture,  but  only  a  suspension,  of  eter- 
nal life.  Let  sinners,  guilty  and  condemned,  ponder  this 
in  their  hearts  ;  take  the  law  in  its  broad  and  compre- 
hensive sense,  extending  to  every  action  of  life,  every 
motive  and  affection  of  the  heart ;  study  it  section  by 
section,  clause  by  clause  ;  mark  well  its  spirituality,  its 
purity,  its  integrity  ;  listen  to  its  terrible  denunciations 
against  incorrigible  transgressors  ;  and  then  answer  the 
solemn  appeal :  How  can  you  escape  ?  Whither  will  you  fly 
for  refuge  ?  Who,  who  shall  deliver  you  from  this  death  ? 
II.  What  is  meant  hy  the  expression,  "  So  great  sal- 
vation,'^ in  the  text  ? 

1.  "The  salvation  mentioned  here,"  says  Dr.  Adam 
Clarke,  "  is  the  whole  system  of  Christianity,  with  all  the 
privileges  it  confers."  That  it  is  the  si/stem  of  salvation 
is  evident,  because  it  was  "  spoken,"  or  revealed,  "  by  the 
Lord,"  and  "  confirmed  by  them  that  heard  him."  It  is  a 
system  of  conditions,  too,  proposing  deliverance  from  sin 
and  death  through  faith  in  Christ,  and  that  holiness  of 
heart  and  life  which  is  the  fruit  of  faith  ;  and  these  are  not 
to  be  "  neglected."  All  this  is  clearly  implied  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  apostle. 

2.  The  theme  of  the  gospel  is  salvatio7i  by  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  founded  in  him.  "  Other  foundation  can  no 
man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ."  He  is 
"  the  Author  and  Finfsher  of  our  faith  ;" — "  the  Author  of 
eternal  salvation  to  all  them  that  obey  him."  Of  the 
whole  system  of  the  gospel,  he  is  "the  Alpha  and  the 


236  THE  GREAT  SALVATION.  [SEE. 

Omega" — "  all  and  in  all."  To  procure  salvation  he  came 
from  heaven,  suffered,  and  died.  "  It  is  a  faithful  saying, 
and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord 
came  into  the  Avorld  to  save  sinners."  "  The  Son  of  man 
is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost." 

The  gospel  is  a  remedial  system.  It  proposes  satisfac- 
tion to  the  claims  of  justice  by  a  propitiatory  offering  for 
sin.  All  the  remedial  benefits  of  the  gospel  are  ascribed 
in  it  to  the  atonement,  as  a  "  satisfaction  offered  to  divine 
justice  by  the  death  of  Christ  for  the  sins  of  mankind,  by 
virtue  of  which  all  true  penitents  who  believe  in  Christ 
are  personally  reconciled  to  God,  are  freed  from  the  penalty 
of  their  sins,  and  entitled  to  eternal  life."*  This  is  the 
fundamental  principle  of  the  gospel  of  salvation.  "  He  was 
wounded  for  our  transgressions."  "  He  appeared  to  put 
away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself;"  "  was  delivered  for 
our  offenses  ;"  "  died,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might 
bring  us  to  God."  "  For  while  we  were  yet  sinners, 
Christ  died  for  us." 

By  this  offering  we  were  redeemed,  bought  back  from 
the  bondage  of  sin  and  the  penal  sentence  of  the  law. 
"  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being 
made  a  curse  for  us."  "Ye  are  not  your  own,  for  ye  are 
bought  with  a  price."  "Ye  were  not  redeemed  with  cor- 
ruptible things,  as  silver  and  gold ;  but  with  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without 
spot."  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world  !" 

3.  Eternal  life,  with  all  the  means  and  provisions  neces- 
sary to  its  attainment,  is  ascribed  to  the  atonement.  That 
"  repentance  which  is  unto  salvation,"  and  the  "  remission 
of  sins,"  are  gospel  privileges  procured  and  appropriated 
by  the  sufferings  and  intercession  of  Christ.  "  Thus  it  is 
written,  and  thus  it  behooved  Christ  to  suffer,  and  to  rise 
from  the  dead  the  third  day ;  and  that  repentance  and  re- 
mission of  sins  should  be  preached  in  his  name  among  all 
nations."  "  Him  hath  God  exalted, — to  be  a  Prince  and 
a  Saviour,  to  give  repentance  to  Israel,  and  forgiveness  of 
sins." 

So  also  is  "Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified"  the  object 

*  Watson  on  the  atonement. 


XVI.j  '  THE   GREAT   SALVATION.  237 

of  all  true  saving  faith.  "  The  righteousness  of  God  with- 
out the  law  is  manifested,  which  is  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 
unto  all,  and  upon  all  them  that  believe  ; — being  justified 
freely  by  his  grace,  through  the  redemption  that  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  ;  w^hom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation, 
through  faith  in  his  blood,  to  declare  his  righteousness  for 
the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past."  Thus  is  the  remission 
of  sins  declared  to  be  according  to  the  righteousness  of 
God  through  faith  in  the  blood  of  atonement ;  "  that  he 
might  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  which  believeth  in 
Jesus."  "  In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  his 
blood,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  according  to  the  riches  of 
his  grace." 

Our  spiritual  adoption  as  the  children  of  God  is  one  of 
the  rich  blessings  procured  for  us  by  the  atonement,  and 
is  therefore  a  gospel,  not  a  law,  privilege.  "As  many  as 
receive  him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons 
of  God."  "  Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath 
bestowed  upon  us,  that  w^e  should  be  called  the  sons  of 
God." 

Moreover,  we  are  sanctified  by  the  "  blood  of  the  cove- 
nant," and  thus  made  holy  and  meet  for  communion  with 
God  in  heaven.  "  He  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our 
sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness."  "  The 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin." 
"  These  are  they "  who  have  "  w^ashed  their  robes  and 
made  them  v/hite  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  And  the  re- 
deemed in  heaven  sing,  "  Unto  Him  that  loved  us,  and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood, — to  him  be 
glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever." 

Most  clearly  is  this  truth  revealed  throughout  the  Scrip- 
tures, that  salvation  from  sin  and  death,  and  eternal  life  in 
heaven,  are  gospel  blessings,  received  solely  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  virtue  of  the  atonement.  This  is 
the  sinner's  only  hope,  the  only  w^ay  of  escape  for  a  guilty 
world. 

4.  To  be  thus  saved,  we  must  come  to  God  through 
Christ.  Li  thus  doing,  we  have  promise  that  he  will  save : 
"  He  is  able  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that  come  to 
God  by  him."  "  Come  unto  me,"  said  he,  "  and  I  will 
give  you  rest."  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto 
me  and  drink."     We  must  seek  him  by  prayer :  "  Seek 


238  THE   GREAT   SALVATION.  [SER. 

ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found ;  call  ye  upon  him 
while  he  is  near."  "  \\^iosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name 
of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved."  We  must  receive  him  by 
faith :  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt 
be  saved."  All  who  slight  these  requirements,  neglect 
this  great  salvation.  This  is  a  strong  point  in  the  apostle's 
argument. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  salvation  through  Christ  does 
not  make  void  the  law,  or  abolish  its  sanctions  ;  but  it 
proposes,  through  the  gracious  provisions  which  God  has 
made  for  guilty  man,  to  prepare  him  for  everlasting  life 
through  pardon  and  sanctification  of  the  Spirit.  The  law 
requires  habitual  love  to  God  and  man.  This  consists  with 
holiness,  and  leads  to  everlasting  life  in  the  world  to  come. 
But  by  sin  all  are  destitute  of  this  moral  purity,  and  "  are 
dead  in  "  their  "  trespasses."  A  change  is  therefore  neces- 
sary, a  moral  renovation  of  soul,  in  order  to  prepare  us  to 
serve  God  acceptably,  and  inherit  eternal  life.  Such  a 
change  the  gospel  contemplates,  through  the  redemption 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  This  gospel  "  is  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth."  "  For 
we  are  his  workmanship,  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good 
works."  This  change  is  the  new  birth,  constituting  its 
subjects  new  creatures,  and  preparing  them  to  "  love  God'* 
supremely,  and  "delight"  in  his  law,  "after  the  inward 
man."  God  "  writes  his  law  in  their  hearts."  They 
"  dwell  in  love,"  and  thus,  evangelically,  fulfill  the  law  : 
"  For  he  that  loveth  hath  fulfilled  the  law."  Thus  does 
God,  through  the  salvation  of  the  gospel,  "  magnify  his 
law,  and  make  it  honorable." 

5.  All  this,  let  it  be  remembered,  upon  which  eternal 
life  is  offered  to  sinful  man,  is  through  the  atonement  by 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  is  the  only  remedy  God  has  provided 
against  the  penalty  of  the  law.  Eternal  life  is  everywhere 
in  the  Scriptures  represented  as  a  purchased  possession, 
procured  and  bestowed  "  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 
He  says  of  himself,  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;" 
"I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they 
might  have  it  more  abundantly."  Of  those  who  hear  his 
voice,  and  follow  him,  he  says,  "  I  give  unto  them  eternal 
life."  "  Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give 
him, — it  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water,  sprinking  up  into 


XVI.]  THE  GREAT  SALVATION.  239 

everlasting  life."  And  to  the  unbelieving  Jews  he  said, 
"Ye  will  not  come  unto  me,  that  you  might  have  life." 
"This  is  the  record,  that  God  hath  given  us  eternal  life ; 
and  this  life  is  in  his  Son."  "  When  Christ,  who  is  your 
life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in 
glory." 

All  this  is  peculiar  to  an  economy  of  salvation,  and  in 
nowise  consistent  with  the  law  of  works.  It  is  the  subject- 
matter  of  that  "  great  salvation,  which  at  first  began  to  be 
spoken  by  the  Lord."  As  its  author,  lie  "  brought  life  and 
immortality  to  light  through  the  gospel."  A  ray  of  this 
life-inspiring  light  shone  in  the  promise  that  the  seed  of 
the  woman  should  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent.  It  was 
rendered  briUiant  and  vivifying,  when  he  proclaimed, 
"  Lo !  I  come,  as  it  is  written  of  me — to  do  thy  will,  O 
God  !"  He  connected  with  his  own  proper  character  as 
God,  that  of  a  Saviour,  in  announcing  himself  to  man  :  "  I 
am  a  just  God,  and  Saviour.  Look  unto  me  and  be  ye 
saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth."  Wondrous  language 
this  !  "  Begun  at  the  first  to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord." 
Who  else  could  have  spoken  it,  but  by  permission  ?  Angels 
adopted  it,  and  veiled  their  faces,  as  they  sung,  "  Unto  you 
is  born  a  Saviour,  who  is  Christ  the  Lord."  It  was  his 
work  to  save.  His  word  was  the  Avord  of  life  ;  his  gospel, 
a  gospel  of  salvation.  Here  is  the  covenant  of  promise — 
the  covenant  of  grace,  sealed  Avitli  blood.  Through  it  par- 
don is  offered  to  the  guilty,  purity  to  the  polluted,  and  life 
to  the  dead.  This  is  the  only  salvation  from  that  death 
which  is  the  penalty  of  the  law.  '•  He  that  believeth  in 
me,"  said  the  Saviour,  "  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he 
live ;  and  he  that  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never 
die." 

6.  But  the  text  asserts  the  possibility  and  danger  of 
failing  to  receive  this  gracious  gift  of  God,  "  everlasting 
life  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,"  by  neglecting  the 
gospel :  "  How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great 
salvation?"  This  is  equivalent  to  the  most  solemn  as- 
sertion that  we  cannot.  Hence  the  importance  of  the  duty 
to  "  give  the  more  earnest  heed"  to  these  things,  "lest  at 
any  time  we  should  let  them  slip."  Eternal  life  is  sus- 
pended upon  terms  and  conditions  set  forth  in  the  gospel ; 
and,  to  insure  it,  intense  application  to  these  is  necessary, 


240  THE   GREAT   SALVATION.  [SER. 

lest  anything  essential  to  that  end  should  be  permitted  to 
slip,  and  the  soul  be  left  under  the  power  of  eternal  death. 
How  tremendous  the  motive  "  to  give  the  more  earnest 
heed !" 

They  neglect  this  great  salvation  who  are  indifferent 
to  its  terms  and  provisions,  and  slight  the  offer  of  pardon 
it  makes  to  the  guilty.  Their  indifference  shows  that 
they  are  not  influenced  by  that  sense  of  the  guilt  of  sin, 
without  which  they  cannot  be  fit  subjects  for  pardon,  in 
any  way  consistent  Avith  the  purity  and  integrity  of  the 
moral  government  of  God.  "To  this  man  will  I  look," 
saith  the  Lord,  "  even  to  him  that  is  poor  and  of  a  contrite 
spirit,  and  that  trembleth  at  my  Avord."  "  God  is  nigh 
unto  them  that  are  of  a  broken  heart ;  and  saveth  such  as 
be  of  a  contrite  spirit."  "  Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all 
likewise  perish." 

The  gospel  requires  that  sinners  not  only  feel,  but  con- 
fess, their  guilt.  "  If  we  say  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive 
ourselves,  and  make  Him  a  liar ;  but  if  we  confess  our 
sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness."  And  we  are  saved 
through  faith  alone :  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved,  through 
faith."  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved."  "  Now  the  just  shall  live  by  faith." 
"  Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God."  "  He  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned."    All  unbelievers  neglect  it. 

To  be  saved,  we  must  be  "  led  by  the  Si)irit,"  and  "  walk 
in  the  Spirit."  "  If  any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
he  is  none  of  his."  "  As  many  as  are  led  by  the  vSpirit  of 
God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God."  All  the  Christian  graces 
must  be  kept  alive  by  watchfulness,  and  prayer,  and  self- 
denying  lives ;  for  "  God  resisteth  the  proud,  but  giveth 
grace  to  the  humble."  How  intense,  then,  should  be  our 
earnestness,  to  let  none  of  these  things  slip  !  If  inattention 
in  any  of  these  respects  ranks  us  among  neglecters  of  this 
great  salvation,  what  must  be  the  state  and  condition  of 
such  as  "  deny  the  Lord  that  bought  them,"  and  openly 
trample  ujjon  his  authority  and  laws  without  restraint? 
Equally  true  and  alarming  is  that  picture  of  our  depraved 
world  which  is  drawn  by  the  hand  of  the  great  Master 
himself:  "  Wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad  is  the  way,  which 
leadeth   to  destruction,  and  many  there  be  which  go  in 


.XVI.]  THE  GREAT   SALVATION.  241 

thereat ;  because  strait  is  tlie  gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way, 
which  leadeth  to  life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it." 

III.  The  conclusion  deduced  from  the  relation  in  which 
the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  stands  to  the  law,  which  is 
steadfast  in  its  claims  of  justice,  strikes  us  with  all  the 
force  of  moral  demonstration. 

1.  From  what  has  been  said,  it  is  evidently  this,  that 
everlasting  life,  as  the  gift  of  God  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  is  the  only  remedy  against  eternal  death, 
which  is  the  penalty  of  the  law.  Sin,  in  any  of  its  forms, 
and  under  all  circumstances,  is  offensive  against  God,  and 
subversive  of  the  principles  of  eternal  justice.  While 
eternal  justice,  then,  remains  as  an  attribute  of  the  moral 
Governor  of  the  universe,  and  eternal  truth  lives  in  his 
nature,  death  will  be  the  penalty  of  unpardoned  sin.  Such 
is  the  sanction  of  his  law  :  "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall 
die  ;"  and  it  is  steadfast. 

As  "  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God,"  the  condition  of  all  would  be  hopeless,  but  for  the 
remedy  provided  "  through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  and  '•  brought  to  light  in  the  gospel."  What  a 
provision  is  this  !  What  a  value  has  God  placed  upon  it. 
since  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  to  procure  it !  What 
madness  and  folly  in  man  to  neglect  it,  since  all  that  is 
desirable  in  everlasting  life,  and  all  that  is  dreadful  in  eter- 
nal death,  are  suspended  upon  it!  Of  this  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  "■  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other  ;  for 
there  is  none  other  name  given  under  heaven  among  men 
whereby  we  must  be  saved."  "  As  many  as  are  under  the 
works  of  the  law,  are  under  the  curse  ;"  "  shut  up  unto  the 
faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  This  is  the  only  open 
door — the  only  way  of  escape.  "  How  shall  we  escape,  if 
we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ?" 

2.  "  Do  we  then  make  void  the  law  through  faith  ?  God 
forbid :  yea,  we  establish  the  law."  In  the  terms  of  both 
the  lavf  and  the  gospel,  God  deals  with  man  as  a  moral 
agent.  The  law  requires  perfect  obedience.  Justice  de- 
mands that  God  should  "by  no  means  clear  the  guilty," 
who  persist  in  violating  its  requirements.  The  gospel 
offers  pardon  to  the  penitent  who  believe  in  Christ.  Here 
God  appears  as  he  proclaimed  hmiself  to  Moses  ;  "  merciful 
and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness/* 


242  THE   GREAT   SALVATION.  [SER. 

Thus  are  his  attributes  harmonized  in  vindicating  the  prin- 
ciples of  eternal  justice  against  those  who  exercise  their 
moral  agency  in  perversely  rejecting  the  provisions  of  the 
gospel,  and  granting  pardon  and  eternal  life  to  those  who 
obey  it.  "  If  thou  seek  him,  he  will  be  found  of  thee  ;  but  if 
thou  forsake  him,  he  will  cast  thee  off  for  ever." 

3.  The  doctrine  of  the  text  shows  most  conclusively 
that  the  punishment  of  the  finally  impenitent  will  be  eter- 
nal. '  Is  deatli  the  penalty  of  the  law  ?  We  have  seen  that 
life  is  the  only  remedy  against  it.  This  life  "  is  the  gift 
of  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;''  and  it  is  eternal 
life.  If  this  be  the  only  remedy  against  death,  then  that 
death  in  which  it  leaves  those  who  do  not  receive  it  must 
be  eternal  death.  This  is  too  plain  to  admit  of  a  rational 
doubt.  Life  and  death,  in  Scripture  language,  are  perfect 
opposites,  in  nature  and  extent,  when  employed  in  refer- 
ence to  the  same  subject ;  so  that  where  one  is  not  there 
the  other  is.  Both  of  these,  in  the  eternal  world,  no  human 
being  can  escape.  Sin  lays  all  under  the  penalty  of 
death,  from  which  there  is  no  salvation,  but  by  that  life 
which  is  through  Jesus  Christ.  Not  to  receive  everlasting 
life  is,  then,  necessarily  to  suffer  eternal  death ;  and  that 
solemn  declaration  respecting  the  righteous  and  the  wicked 
will  be  found  true  to  the  letter,  however  mystified  by  false 
jDhilology  and  shallow  criticisms  :  "  These  shall  go  away 
into  everlasting  punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal." 

The  conditional  character  of  the  gospel  shows  the  pos- 
sibility and  danger  of  suffering  the  penalty  of  eternal  death 
in  the  clearest  light.  Everywhere  eternal  life  is  held  out 
as  the  motive  to  faith  and  obedience.  "  That  whosoever 
believeth  on  him  might  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life,"  is  the  language  by  which  the  condition  and  the  con- 
sequence are  connected  with  every  declaration  of  God's 
love  to  man  in  the  gift  of  his  Son :  "  He  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  ;  and  he  that  believeth 
not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth 
on  him."  "  Keep  yourselves  in  the  love  of  God,  looking 
for  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal  life." 
Admit  that  everlasting  life  shall  be  the  portion  of  the 
wicked  as  well  as  the  righteous — that  all  vdW  be  saved — 
and  what   are   these    conditions,   uttered   with   so  much 


XVI,]  THE  GREAT   SALVATION.  243 

solemnity  and  interest,  but  deceit  and  mockery  ?  For  what 
are  men  exhorted  to  believe  in  Christ,  to  keep  themselves 
in  the  love  of  God,  and  through  the  Spirit  to  mortify  the 
deeds  of  the  body  ?  For  what  admonished  rather  to  sacri- 
fice life  itself  than  deny  Christ  ?  But  if  the  wicked  do  not 
go  with  the  righteous  into  life  eternal,  what  will  be  their 
portion  ?  There  is  one  only  answer ;  eternal  death.  This 
is  the  awful  doom  which  neglecters  of  salvation  cannot 
escape. 

4.  The  doctrine  of  the  text  proves  that  any  interpreta- 
tion of  the  gospel  which  teaches  that  neglecters  of  it  can 
and  will  escape  the  punishment  of  eternal  death,  is  anti- 
christian  and  false. 

In  the  name  of  Christianity,  absurd  as  it  may  seem, 
Universalism  repudiates  endless  punishment  for  sin.  This 
system,  the  fundamental  principle  of  which  is,  "  that  all 
men  will  be  finally  happy  in  heaven,"  is  called  a  system 
of  salvation ;  and,  because  it  contemplates  the  final  happi- 
ness of  all,  that  state  of  happiness  is  called  universal  salva- 
tion. This  is  predicated  of  the  gospel.  Its  teachers  in- 
culcate it  as  a  doctrine  of  the  gospel ;  and,  in  doing  so, 
dwell  much  upon  those  passages  of  Scripture  which  exhi- 
bit the  goodness  of  God  as  the  merciful  Father  of  all,  and 
the  love  of  Christ  in  giving  himself  a  ransom  for  all.  It 
is  this  which  invests  their  teaching  with  its  charm  to  allure, 
and  its  power  to  deceive.  But  it  must  be  perceived,  that 
if  the  doctrine  we  have  set  forth  be  correct,  this  is  a  fear- 
ful delusion,  whose  destructive  tendency  should  lead  all 
who  love  Christ  and  the  souls  of  men  to  warn  the  unsus- 
pecting against  it.  "  Let  no  man  deceive  you  with  vain 
words ;  for  because  of  these  things  cometh  the  wrath  of 
God  upon  the  children  of  disobedience." 

Universalism  rejects  the  doctrine  of  endless  punishment 
for  sin,  '•  as  unmerciful,  unjust,  and  cruel ;  a  penalty  which 
a  just  God  never  did,  and  never  can,  annex  to  his  law."  I 
use  the  language  of  its  accredited  teachers.  To  sustain  this 
position  they  expatiate,  with  much  zeal  and  pathos,  upon 
those  portions  of  Scripture  which  declare  that  "  God  is 
love  ;"  that  "  he  is  merciful,  and  gracious ;"  that  "  he  has 
no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked ;"  "  willeth  not  that 
any  should  perish ;"  and  that  he  "  will  have  all  men  to  be 
saved,  and  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth."     And, 


244  THE   GREAT   SALVATION.  tSER. 

confining  the  minds  of  their  hearers  to  this  theme  of  the 
goodness  of  God  as  the  basis  of  their  religious  faith,  they 
reason  thus :  "  As  God  is  infinitely  good,  he  could  not 
will  a  system  which  could  result  in  that  in  which  he  has 
no  pleasure :  as  he  is  infinitely  wise,  he  could  not  adopt 
a  system  of  government  which  might,  by  any  means,  admit 
of  such  a  result :  and,  as  he  is  omnipotent,  he  could  not  fail 
to  prevent  everything  not  in  accordance  with  his  will  and 
pleasure,  and  to  bring  to  pass  all  the  good  pleasure  of  his 
goodness."  Thus  they  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  eter- 
nal punishment  for  sin  is  "  unjust,  unmerciful,  and  cruel ; 
a  penalty  which  a  just  God  never  did,  and  never  can,  an- 
nex to  his  law."  This  is  plausible  reasoning,  which  de- 
ceives many ;  and,  would  they  teach  it  as  their  philosophy 
only,  there  would  be  less  inconsistency  in  it.  But  they 
teach  it  as  gospel,  and  appeal  to  the  Scriptures  for  its  sup- 
port. And  that  they  may  render  it  the  more  effectual  in 
deceiving  the  ignorant,  and  supplanting  the  doctrines  of 
the  gospel,  they  represent  all  Christian  ministers  who 
teach  that  God  has  affixed  the  penalty  of  eternal  death 
to  his  law,  which  he  will  inflict  upon  incorrigible  trans- 
gressors, as  denying  his  attributes  of  goodness,  wisdom, 
and  power,  and  holding  him  up  as  a  capricious,  vindictive, 
and  cruel  being. 

Such  instruction  to  sinners  is  of  the  most  fearful  ten- 
dency ;  and  we  entreat  them  to  examine  the  subject  with 
seriousness  and  candor,  lest  neglect  prove  their  ruin. 
There  is  here  but  one  question  to  settle : — Is  it  gospel  ?  Is 
it  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible?  If  it  be  not,  who,  then^ 
charges  God  with  injustice  and  cruelty  ?  It  is  asserted, 
that  2i.just  God  never  did,  and  never  can,  annex  the  penalty 
of  eternal  death  to  his  law ;  and  therefore  the  doctrine  of 
endless  punishment  is  false.  But  it  is  a  question  of  fact, 
and  not  of  inference ;  and  if  the  Scriptures  prove,  as  has 
been  shown  in  this  discourse,  that  he  has  affixed  such  a 
penalty  to  his  law,  the  assertion  that  a  just  God  could  not 
do  so,  is  a  direct  charge  of  injustice  ;  and,  if  he  carry  it  into 
effect,  of  cruelty.  One  single  reflection  will  show  that  this 
cannot  be  a  gospel  doctrine,  because  it  uproots  the  very 
foundation  of  the  gospel  system,  and  renders  all  its  terms 
trifling  and  absurd. 

The  whole  theory  proceeds  upon  the  ground,  that,  be- 


XVI.]  THE  GREAT  SALVATION.  245 

cause  God  is  love — is  infinite  in  goodness — he  has  not, 
never  had,  and  never  can  have,  a  law  to  inflict  eternal 
pnnishment  for  sin.  This  necessity  against  such  a  law  is 
founded  in  his  nature — the  attribute  of  goodness — which  is 
essential  to  his  being.  Now,  if  this  be  so,  it  always  was 
so.  God  was  essentially  good  before  the  atonement  was 
provided,  as  perfectly  and  unchangeably  so  as  since  ;  and 
man  was  never  liable  to  eternal  death,  and  was  never 
saved  from  it ;  for  we  cannot  be  saved  from  that  to  which 
we  are  not,  and  cannot,  be  liable.  Then  there  is  no  salva- 
tion in  it,  no  mercy,  no  deliverance.  The  atonement  was 
unnecessary,  and  is  out  of  the  question.  The  happiness 
of  all  m  heaven  is  made  sure  and  necessary  by  the  nature 
and  being  of  God ;  and  aU  the  terms  of  the  gospel  can 
have  no  place  in  the  mighty  scheme.  Is  this  gospel  sal- 
vation ?     Be  not  deceived  with  vain  words. 

But  we  should  add,  that  this  principle  excludes  death,  as 
a  punishment  for  sin,  altogether.  If,  because  God  has  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  a  sinner,  his  goodness  will  there- 
fore prevent  it,  then  it  cannot  be  suffered  in  any  sense. 
He  did  not  say,  "  I  have  no  pleasure  "  in  the  eternal  death, 
but,  simply,  "  in  the  death  of  the  wicked."  The  argument, 
then,  does  not  apply  to  the  duration  of  the  punishment,  but 
to  the  punishment  of  death  altogether.  And  what  is  the 
difference?  He  who  is  eternally  love  and  goodness,  is 
such  at  all  times,  and  every  point  of  time.  And  if  the  ex- 
istence of  goodness  will  eternally  prevent  suffering  for  sin, 
it  must  also  at  all  points  of  time.  All  suffering,  then,  aris- 
ing from  moral  delinquency,  is  demonstration  that  the  the- 
ory is  a  delusion.  Nor  will  anything  be  gained  by  assum- 
ing that  such  suffering  is  in  no  sense  a  penalty  for  sin ;  for 
that  would  be  to  make  God  a  capricious,  vindictive,  cruel 
being  indeed.  It  hence  appears  most  conclusively  that 
this  fundamental  argument,  which  is  made  the  very  basis 
of  Universalism,  excludes  the  gospel  and  salvation  by 
Christ  altogether.  There  is  no  place  for  Christ  or  salva- 
tion in  it.  Natural  religion  teaches  that  God  is  good,  and 
Deism  concedes  it.  What  more  does  this  ?  Let  none  be 
deceived  by  it.  "  How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so 
great  salvation?"  We  have  proved  that  eternal  life  is 
the  gift  of  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord :  it  cannot 
then  be  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  being  and  attri- 


246  THE    GREAT   SALVATION.  [SER, 

butes  of  God.  We  have  proved  too  that  it  is  conditionally- 
bestowed  :  it  cannot  then  be  certain  and  inevitable.  "  Let 
God  be  true,  and  every  man"  who  contradicts  him  "  a  liar." 
5.  I  shall  be  told,  perhaps,  that  I  misrepresent  the 
preaching  of  Universalists  ;  that  they  dwell  much  upon  the 
love  of  Christ,  and  discourse  sweetly  and  charmingly  of  the 
glorious  privilege  of  salvation  through  him.  This  is  ad- 
mitted; and  it  is  therefore  the  more  important  to  warn 
sinners  against  the  delusion.  Though  they  profess  to 
preach  Christ  and  salvation,  it  is  still  evident  that  both 
are  excluded  from  their  theory,  so  that  eternal  life  depends 
in  no  sense  upon  either.  To  what  purpose  is  it  that  they 
entertain  their  hearers  by  reciting  from  the  Scriptures  such 
declarations  as  these :  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son ;"  "  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we 
loved  him,  but  that  he  loved  us,  and  gave  himself  for  us  ;" 
"  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us,  because  we  thus 
judge,  if  one  died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead ;  and  that  he 
died  for  all ;"  "  He  was  a  propitiation  for  our  sins,  and 
not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world  ?" 
It  places  them  indeed  before  their  hearers  as  Christian 
teachers.  But  connected  with  their  theory,  these  very  in- 
teresting truths  are  rendered  useless ;  and  therefore  the 
preaching  of  them  is  but  a  sad  specimen  of  solemn  mockery. 
It  is  admitted,  that  if  man  is  exposed  to  eternal  death  as  a 
penalty  for  his  sins,  no  subject  can  be  of  more  importance 
to  him  than  salvation  through  Christ.  And  the  love  of 
Christ  in  giving  his  life  to  make  such  salvation  possible,  is 
sufficient  to  excite  the  deepest  feelings  of  his  heart.  But 
admit  that  he  never  was  so  exposed — that  the  goodness  of 
God  rendered  it  impossible  that  he  ever  should  be,  and 
what  has  Christ  done  to  save  him  ?  In  what  sense  is  he  a 
Saviour,  or  is  there  any  salvation  in  the  plan  ?  What  is 
all  the  gospel  says  about  the  love  of  Christ  in  dying  for 
sinners,  or  ministers  rehearsing  it,  but  the  exhibition  of 
a  fictitious  tragedy — a  religious  cheat  ?  This  universal 
salvation  is  in  fact  no  salvation  at  all.  And  the  teaching 
of  it  as  gospel  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  Let  all  who 
would  escape  the  death  it  denies,  turn  away  from  it,  lest  it 
prove  their  ruin.  Salvation  cannot  be  the  necessary  result 
of  the  goodness  of  God,  as  an  attribute  of  his  nature,  and 
depend  in  any  sense  on  the  atonement  of  our  Lord  Jesus 


XVI.]  THE   GREAT   SALVATION.  247 

Christ,  on  any  conditions  held  forth  in  the  gospel.  It  is  a 
plain  contradiction.  The  goodness  of  God,  and  the  love 
of  Christ,  appear  in  the  most  glorious  light  in  the  gospel 
plan,  in  providing  a  merciful  deliverance  for  man  from  that 
eternal  death  to  which  sin  has  made  him  liable.  And  all 
must  see,  that  if  sin  would  subject  the  transgressor  to  end- 
less punishment  under  the  law  of  works,  so  as  to  make  the 
atonement  necessary,  it  may  since  the  atonement  has  been 
provided ;  and  those  who  neglect  its  benefits  are  accordingly 
obnoxious  to  this  awful  penalty. 

That  this  system  excludes  salvation  by  Christ  altogether, 
its  advocates,  with  all  their  show  of  preaching  Christ  and 
his  gospel,  most  deliberately  maintain.  They  claim  it  "  as 
one  of  their  peculiar  doctrines,  that  no  man  can,  by  any 
possibility,  escape  a  just  punishment  for  his  sins ;" — 
"  neither  forgiveness,"  they  say  explicitly,  "  nor  atonement, 
nor  repentance,  nor  anything  else,  can  step  in  between  the 
sinner  and  the  penalty  of  the  violated  law."  A  horrid 
gospel  this  !  It  acknowledges  the  law,  and  its  just  penalty  ; 
sin,  and  a  just  punishment.  And  then  it  affirms  that  there 
is  no  hope  for  transgressors !  All  the  law  demands, 
God  will  inflict  to  the  uttermost !  There  is  no  reprieve, 
no  salvation  from  it !  The  atonement  is  of  no  avail !  Re- 
pentance is  fruitless  !  Faith  has  no  object !  There  is  no 
compassion,  no  complacency,  no  mercy,  to  be  moved  by 
supplication  !  Despair  broods  over  the  repenting  sinner, 
at  the  throne  of  grace  !  And  his  Judge  sternly  dooms  him 
to  suffer  all  he  can,  consistently  with  his  own  perfections, 
inflict  as  a  punishment  for  his  sins  !  Is  there  nothing  vin- 
dictive or  cruel  in  this  ?  Is  this  the  gospel  of  mercy,  and 
pardon,  and  salvation?  this  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  to 
all  people?  There  is  not  an  element  of  salvation  in  it, 
nor  a  principle  in  harmony  with  the  gospel.  It  excludes 
Christ,  and  mercy,  and  salvation,  from  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  God,  and  represents  him  as  an  unrelenting  tyrant, 
deaf  to  the  entreaties  of  the  contrite,  and  stern  in  inflicting 
upon  them  the  whole  penalty  of  his  law !  And  for  this  he 
claims  that  we  shall  praise  his  goodness  and  mercy! 
What  a  sad  perversion  of  terms !  What  is  damnation 
more  than  to  suffer  all  the  penalty  of  the  law  ?  And  does 
not  this  doom  all  to  suffer  it  to  the  uttermost  ?  What  is  it, 
then,  but  universal  damnation  ?     This  is  its  nature  ;  and, 


248  THE   GREAT   SALVATION.  [SER. 

to  be  true  to  the  import  of  terms,  this  should  be  its  name. 
Let  all  who  would  escape  eternal  death,  through  the  sal- 
vation which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  shun  this  delusion,  and 
every  other  subterfuge  like  it ;  and  seek  that  pardon  and 
mercy  w^hich  are  offered  to  them  in  the  gospel. 

In  conclusion,  are  any  concerned  for  their  souls,  and  anx- 
iously inquiring  what  they  must  do  to  be  saved  ?  We 
earnestly  entreat  them  to  examine  seriously  and  with 
prayer  the  doctrine  of  our  text.  It  presents  every  man 
with  a  view  of  his  own  condition,  as  a  sinner  under  the 
curse  of  the  law.  The  penalty  of  that  law  is  eternal  death. 
Hopeless  indeed  would  be  the  condition  of  all,  were  it  true 
that  "  neither  forgiveness,  nor  atonement,  nor  repentance, 
nor  anything  else,"  could  interpose  "between  the  sinner 
and  the  penalty  of  the  violated  law."  But,  thanks  be  to 
God,  it  is  not  true.  Here  is  the  great  salvation,  full  of 
mercy  and  truth.  By  its  provisions,  pardon,  and  mercy, 
and  eternal  life,  are  offered  to  aU !  What  a  remedy ! 
What  an  exhibition  of  the  goodness  of  God  and  the  love 
of  Christ !  Yet,  under  this  dispensation  of  mercy,  God 
deals  with  us  as  with  moral  agents.  He  bestows  mercy 
and  eternal  life  only  on  those  who  seek  them  according  to 
the  terms  of  the  gospel,  through  faith  in  Christ.  There  is 
no  other  way.     You  cannot  escape  in  neglect  of  this. 

Let  all  who  have  never  given  their  hearts  to  God, 
know  assuredly  that  they  will  be  judged  according  to  this 
gospel ;  and,  if  they  neglect  it,  they  can  never  enjoy  ever- 
lasting life.  "  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlast- 
ing life ;  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see 
life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  Yes,  ahideth 
on  him, — and  will  for  ever  and  ever.  "  I  call  heaven  and 
earth  to  record,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life  and  death." 
Choose  life.  Choose  it  now.  Fly  to  the  refuge  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus,  lest  sudden  destruction  come  upon  you, 
and  ye  shall  not  escape. 


XVII.]       CONSERVATIVE  POWER  OF   CHRISTIANITY.      249 

SERMON  XVn. 

The  Conservative  Power  of  Christianity. 

BY  REV.  A.  M.  OSBON, 

OF    THE    NEW-YORK   CONFERENCE. 

"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth." — Matt,  v,  13. 

The  well-known  qualities  of  the  substance  from  which 
the  metaphor  in  the  text  is  taken  furnish  a  just  and 
striking  illustration  of  the  nature  and  effects  of  revealed 
religion.  I  say  revealed  religion  ;  for  although  the  pre- 
serving quality  is  here  attributed  to  persons,  it  will  be 
obvious  that  it  is  only  by  a  figure  of  rhetoric  that  Chris- 
tians, as  persons,  are  called  "  the  salt  of  the  earth,"  or  "  the 
light  of  the  world." 

There  were,  however,  important  reasons  for  this  me- 
tonymical  use  of  language  in  reference  to  the  great  doc- 
trines unfolded  in  this  part  of  our  Lord's  discourse.  In 
the  first  place  it  served  to  point  out  to  the  people  the 
chosen  agency  of  the  world's  renovation.  The  persons 
addressed  were  the  body  of  the  disciples,  who,  being  united 
together  by  a  common  faith,  constituted  the  church.  The 
church,  then,  is  the  visible  medium  of  divine  grace  and 
truth — the  reflector  of  the  moral  image  of  God  in  the 
world.  In  this  reside  the  conservant  principles  of  human 
virtue  and  felicity. 

In  the  second  place  it  was  intended  to  deeply  impress 
upon  the  heart  of  the  church  the  almost  infinite  obligations 
which  rested  upon  her  to  labor  to  spread  the  saving  influ- 
ences of  this  religion  among  men.  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth."  See  what  trusts  are  reposed  in  you — what  in- 
teresting and  momentous  consequences  are  depending  upon 
your  zeal  and  fidelity.  "  If  the  salt  shall  lose  its  savor, 
wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ?"  If  you,  my  chosen  ministers 
and  laborers,  shall  prove  recreant  to  your  duty,  what  will 
become  of  the  world  ?  Go  forth,  then,  among  the  dying 
and  wretched  sons  of  Adam,  and  spread  the  influence  of 
tlie  gospel  of  life.  Go  and  cry  in  the  ears  of  the  world, 
11* 


250         CONSERVATIVE   POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.       [SER. 

"  Ho !  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters ; 
and  he  that  hath  no  money  come,  buy  wine  and  milk  with- 
out money  and  without  price."  These  few  remarks  are 
sufficient  to  indicate  the  nature  of  the  argument,  if  proof 
were  demanded,  that  the  church  is  only  the  receptacle  and 
visible  medium  of  that  light  and  grace  by  which  the  world 
is  preserved  from  the  desolating  influences  of  error  and 
corruption,  which,  if  they  did  not  involve  the  very  being 
of  society,  would  preclude  its  ultimate  elevation  and  feli- 
city. If,  then,  we  would  retain  the  position  to  which  we 
have  been  already  brought ;  or  if  we  would  ascend  to  the 
bright  summit  of  our  hopes,  we  must  know,  so  as  to  appre- 
ciate, the  agencies  by  which  alone  we  shall  be  able  to  do 
this.  For  a  false  reliance,  however  earnest  it  might  be, 
in  relation  to  these  great  interests,  would  be  as  fatal  to  our 
hopes  as  total  remissness  and  inaction. 

The  spirit  of  the  age  partakes  too  much  of  the  philo- 
sophical infidelity  of  the  day.  The  simplicity  of  our  faith 
in  the  true  idea  of  divine  providence,  and  the  mediation 
of  Jesus  Christ,  is  thereby  endangered  ;  if  not  by  over- 
rating the  subsidiary  agencies  of  our  prosperity,  yet  by 
underrating  the  office  and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
the  influence  of  gospel  truth,  upon  private  and  public  pros- 
perity. The  doctrine  contained  in  the  text,  if  it  were 
permitted  to  work  out  its  legitimate  effects,  would  correct 
all  these  errors,  and  stimulate  us  to  an  accelerated  pro- 
gress in  all  that  is  "  pure,  lovely,  and  acceptable  in  the 
sight  of  God." 

The  doctrine  which  I  wish  to  illustrate  in  the  following 
discourse  is  this  ;  namely. 

That  Christianity,  practically  illustrated  in  the  character 
of  believers,  flemishes  the  great  conservative  influence  of 
social  and  civil  society. 

I  have  purposely  made  this  proposition  general ;  for  it 
is  the  general  influence  of  Christianity  upon  the  public  heart 
which  I  wish  to  illustrate  in  this  discourse.  And,  that  no 
misapprehension  may  arise  in  regard  to  what  is  included 
in  the  language  of  it,  I  will  briefly  explain  the  proposition 
itself. 

Although  I  speak  of  Christianity  as  it  is  imbodied  in 
the  faith  and  discipline  of  the  church,  I  also  refer  to  that 
by  which  the  church  is  made  what  she  is  in  her  religious 


XVII.]      CONSERVATIVE   POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.        251 

character.  The  proposition  is  made  chiefly  with  reference 
to  the  moral  character  and  efficacy  of  the  doctrines  and 
sacraments  of  the  Bible.  It  is  not  claimed,  then,  that  the 
Bible  is  the  text-book  either  of  general  science,  literature, 
or  government.  Its  teachings  are  strictly  religious.  The 
only  concession  which  we  claim  for  it  is,  that  it  teaches 
nothing  contrary  to  the  ascertained  laws  of  general  physics 
— nothing  which  is  repugnant  to  sound  literature,  nor 
anything  which  infringes  upon  just  and  useful  associations 
among  men. 

Whoever,  under  the  influence  of  a  bewildering  super- 
stition, should  open  the  sacred  book  in  hope  of  finding  the 
evidence  which  should  justify  the  faith  of  mankind  in  the 
Copernican  over  the  Ptolemaic  system  of  astronomy,  would 
be  compelled  to  close  it  again  in  total  disappointment ; 
although,  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century,  Galileo  fell 
under  church  censure  for  teaching  the  doctrine  of  the 
sun's  immobility.  And  while  the  Scriptures  are  not  a  re- 
pository of  artificial  rules,  methods,  and  models  of  literary 
taste  and  verbal  elegance,  still  there  is  a  variety  and  bril- 
liancy in  their  imagery — a  power  of  diction — a  loftiness  of 
conception — a  pathos — a  sublimity  and  elegance  of  poetic 
manifestation — which  fairly  entitle  them  to  be  ranked  with 
the  most  classical  poets  and  historians  of  antiquity.  As  it 
regards  the  subject  of  civil  compacts,  they  utter  no  pre- 
cept ;  they  give  no  model  after  which  they  require  the 
nations  of  the  earth  to  fashion  their  opinions  and  customs. 
Men  may  be  democrats,  aristocrats,  or  monarchists,  in 
theory,  and  each  have  equal  Scriptural  authority  for  their 
opinions. 

Nor  is  it  claimed  by  the  doctrine  of  this  proposition 
that  all  the  refinement  and  felicity  of  our  age  spring  imme- 
diately from  the  Bible. 

Such  an  assumption  would  be  equally  derogatory  to  the 
wisdom  of  God  and  the  true  dignity  of  man.  A  partial 
insight  into  the  intellectual  and  moral  constitution  of  man 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  Creator  designed  that  our 
progress  in  personal  perfection  and  enjoyment  should 
arise,  conditionally  at  least,  from  the  exercise  and  right 
application  of  our  own  distinctive  capabilities.  Passing 
with  rapidity,  as  we  do,  through  successive  and  ascending 
steps  of  individual  progression,  it  is  beneficently  provided, 


252         CONSERVATIVE  POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.      [SER. 

in  the  endowments  of  our  nature,  that  memory  shall  carry 
along  with  our  advancing  being  the  cumulative  treasures 
of  experience  and  observation,  from  which,  by  a  process 
of  mental  analysis,  we  may  extract  the  felicitating  sweet- 
ness of  the  past,  and,  recombining  it  with  the  fruits  of  an 
excursive  imagination,  the  lights  and  visions  of  a  fore- 
seeing faith,  that  shall  possess,  in  the  deep  wells  of  our 
own  aifections  and  hopes,  an  unfailing  source  of  immortal 
joy  and  life. 

The  great  aggregate  of  social  felicity  is  the  collected 
joys  and  prosperity  which  spring  from  personal  improve- 
ment and  bliss.  The  fructifying  shower  that  descends  upon 
the  thirsty  plain  pours  out  the  contributions  of  a  thousand 
rivers,  lakes,  and  seas ;  so  the  brilliant  wisdom,  ingenuity, 
and  refined  enjoyment  of  an  age  arise  from  thousands  of 
unnoticed  springs  which  gush  from  private  aifections  and 
virtue. 

It  is  true  there  is  an  amazing  power  in  the  educational 
appliances  of  society — in  the  doctrines  and  policy  of  govern- 
ment— in  the  cultivation  of  the  arts — a  power  directly 
subsidiary  to  the  improvement  of  the  heart  and  mind  of 
man.  And  it  is  equally  true  that  society,  acting  under  its 
own  inward  impulse,  and  going  forth  guided  by  the  focal 
light  of  the  world's  history  and  experience,  may  gain  the 
summit  of  human  improvement  and  joy.  We  say  human 
nature  is  capable  of  this,  and  that  a  right  education  is  a 
vast  engine  for  working  out  this  grand  result. 

It  is  not  intended,  however,  by  this  concession  to  the 
moral  force  of  subordinate  agencies,  to  detract  at  all  from 
the  strength  of  our  main  proposition  :  for  Ave  regard  so- 
ciety in  a  light  similar  to  that  in  which  we  view  the  pro- 
lific earth — a  vast  field  of  capability.  In  the  elements  and 
conformation  of  the  earth,  exist  the  matter  and  conditional 
laws  of  the  fragrant  flower,  the  aromatic  shrub,  and  the 
majestic  oak  of  the  forest.  But  it  requires  the  power  and 
presence  of  the  great  orb  of  day  to  awaken  its  latent  ener- 
gies, to  stir  its  gases,  and  elaborate  the  inherent  vegetable 
life  with  which  its  generous  bosom  swells.  It  is  the  office 
of  this  celestial  agent  to  collect  the  evening  dew,  and  shed 
it  over  the  roseate  cheek  of  the  vale — his,  too,  to  gather 
the  teeming  summer-cloud,  and  pour  out  its  moistening 
rain  upon  the  forest  and  upon  the  field — his,  to  equalize 


XVII.]      CONSERVATIVE  POWER   OF  CHRISTIANITY.       253 

the  pervading  gases  of  the  atmosphere,  from  which  the 
opening  flower-bud  and  foliage  may  absorb  the  elements 
of  their  future  perfection  and  beauty.  Thus  is  it  with 
society.  Possessing,  in  the  natural  endowments  of  its 
individual  parts,  the  capacity  for  exalted  improvement, 
and  in  the  additional  facilities  which  arise  in  the  progress 
of  its  development,  other  means  of  growth  and  elevation, 
still  it  requires  the  incitements  and  guidance  of  our  holy 
religion  to  bring  us  to  an  ultimate  perfection  ;  indeed, 
our  advancement  toward  it  depends  upon  this  great 
benignant  power. 

The  point  which  we  are  desirous  to  inculcate  is  this ; 
namely,  that  the  contingent  auxiliary  influences  which  are 
intended  to  promote  purity  and  goodness  among  men  are 
merely  instruments,  the  real  efficacy  of  which  is  derived 
from  the  influence  of  revealed  religion. 

The  evidence  upon  which  we  rely  for  the  support  of  our 
doctrine,  we  shall  deduct  from  the  internal  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  from  the  manifestations  of  that  spirit  as  it  is 
exhibited  in  the  record  of  its  triumphs. 

I.  It  is  the  avowed  purpose  and  legitimate  tendency  of 
the  Christian  revelation  to  originate  those  virtues  which 
are  confessed  to  be  the  only  foundations  and  evidences  of 
true  social  and  public  elevation,  and  which  also  are  the 
safeguards  of  our  freedom  and  felicity.  We  reckon  by  a 
deceptive  rule  when  we  estimate  the  public  condition,  and 
adjudge  it  prosperous,  merely  by  its  physical  improve- 
ments. The  leveling  of  mountains,  the  filling  up  of  val- 
leys, the  improvement  of  roads,  the  development  of  pro- 
pulsive powers,  and  the  simplification  of  the  methods  by 
which  they  are  applied  to  mechanical  purposes;  these 
things,  let  it  be  remembered,  are  the  appliances  and  tools 
of  society,  or,  they  are  the  means  by  which  we  may  be 
aided  in  the  attainment  of  the  great  ends  of  life.  Nor  does 
the  accumulation  of  wealth  give  certain  evidence  of  that 
growth  and  perfection  in  the  social  body  which  can  be  re- 
garded as  a  sure  guaranty  of  our  future  liberty  and  suc- 
cess. It  will  be  worse  than  useless  to  its  possessor,  if  he 
cannot  enjoy  the  peaceable  possession  and  free  use  of  it. 

And  need  it  be  said,  that  accumulation  is  neither  the 
cure,  nor  yet  the  corrective,  of  cupidity  ?  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  besides  such  external  physical  means  of  ad- 


254       CONSERVATIVE  POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.        [SER. 

vancement — and  it  is  admitted  they  may  contribute  to  our 
real  good — it  is  necessary  to  our  elevation,  and  the  perpe- 
tuity of  our  blessings,  that  truth,  justice,  and  benevolence, 
pervade  the  public  heart  and  character. 

The  main  inquiry,  then,  is,  ^VTien  are  the  sources,  and 
what  are  the  sanctions,  of  an  adequate  public  virtue,  to 
secure  the  great  moral  ends  of  social  and  political  existence  ? 
Is  it  replied,  that  the  federal  constitution  is  the  magna 
charta  of  our  liberties  ?  It  is  answered,  that  that  is  only  a 
symbol  of  ideal  enfranchisement.  For,  while  it  recognizes 
the  fundamental  principles  of  moral  virtue,  it  disclaims  the 
prerogative  to  enforce  the  personal  duties  arising  out  of 
them.  Shall  we  be  pointed  to  the  Gothic  piles  and  Gre- 
cian halls,  which  reflect  the  sunlight  of  heaven  as  if  sym- 
bolizing the  purity  of  the  truth  taught  within  them  ? 
Again  we  answer.  These  are  schools  of  thought  and  men- 
tal discipline,  and  not  the  fountains  of  moral  renovation. 
Auxiliary  they  are  to  the  most  exalted  ends  of  human 
existence,  but  they  are  inadequate,  as  they  were  not  formed 
for  the  regeneration  of  human  nature.  In  our  admiration 
of  learning,  we  are  in  danger  of  confounding  means  Avith 
ends  ;  of  overlooking  the  great  distinction  there  is  between 
mental  culture  and  moral  renovation.  What  is  more  ob- 
vious, than  that  there  may  exist,  in  the  same  being,  high 
mental  cultivation,  and  deep  debasement  of  the  affections 
and  will  ?  And  this  is  as  true  of  nations  as  of  individuals. 
The  past  yields  abundant  proof  of  the  truth,  that  intel- 
lectual development  has  no  necessary  connection  with  moral 
purity. 

Without  drawing  any  comparisons  between  the  relative 
standards  of  the  civilization  of  the  past  and  present,  it 
must  be  confessed,  upon  the  evidence  furnished  in  their 
architectural  and  literary  remains,  that  many  of  the  an- 
cients had  advanced  to  a  very  commendable  degree  of 
knowledge  and  mental  growth. 

Egypt,  especially,  has  a  fame  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
arts.  So  long  ago  as  Avhen  Greece,  afterward  the  Eden 
of  literature,  was  seen  struggling  through  the  shades  of 
barbarism,  and  ere  Rome  had  come  forth  to  write  her 
name,  even,  upon  the  registry  of  history,  Egypt  had  hung 
up  the  lamp  of  science  in  the  earth,  Avhose  cheering  beams 
were  scattered  over  the  pathway  of  chaotic  society,  wider 


XVII.]     CONSERVATIVE   POWER    OF   CHRISTIANITY.         255 

and  more  benignant  than  the  beacon  flame  of  Pharos, 
whose  light  went  streaming  over  the  turbulent  bosom  of  the 
sea,  to  guide  the  weary  and  care-worn  mariner  to  his^ 
home  and  friends.  Even  then,  Thebes,  the  most  magnifi- 
cent city  of  the  world,  was  spanning  the  valley  of  the  Nile 
like  an  immense  arch,  whose  bases  were  the  mountains  of 
Arabia  on  the  east,  and  Africa  on  the  west.  That  single 
product  bore  ample  testimony  to  the  genius  and  philosophy 
of  the  people  who  reared  it ;  and,  but  for  the  war-cry  of  the 
Assyrian,  and  the  destructive  hand  of  Cambyses,  it  might 
have  stood  to  this  day  the  throne  of  the  gods,  the  museum 
of  genius,  and  the  gi-eat  exemplar  of  the  arts.  And 
although  the  multitudes  who  thronged  her  palaces,  jostled 
along  her  streets,  and  worshiped  in  her  temples,  have 
passed  away  for  ever,  still,  the  broken  columns,  avenues 
of  sphinxes,  obelisks,  pyramidal  gateways,  and  giant  por- 
ticoes, give  no  doubtful  evidence  of  the  intellectual  great- 
ness of  the  people  of  whose  history  these  are  the  memori- 
als. Who  is  there  that  can  contemplate  the  mighty 
Luxor,  the  obelisks,  statuary,  and  propylon  which  sur- 
rounded and  supported  it ;  or  the  still  more  magnificent 
Carnac,  in  which  Osiris  received  offerings,  and  not  see  in 
these  majestic  remains  evidence  of  mental  development? 
It  is  for  the  proof  of  this  alone  that  we  cite  these  things. 
For,  alas !  her  statuary,  her  pyramids,  her  temples,  and 
her  tombs,  story  nothing  of  her  benevolence,  her  chastity, 
her  love  of  man,  or  of  that  inward  purity  which  is  the  true 
source  of  real  outward  virtue  in  man.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  her  hieroglyphical  records  there  is  a  prominence  of  ab- 
ject forms,  battle  implements,  carnage,  and  war-triumphs, 
which  gives  incontestable  evidence  that  oppression,  cru- 
elty, and  lust  of  power,  were  among  her  characteristic 
moral  traits. 

Temples  she  had,  and  gods ;  and  they  were  earnestly 
worshiped.  But  such  was  the  falsity  of  their  forms,  and 
the  bestiality  of  their  orgies,  that  the  mind  of  the  wor- 
shiper was  debased,  not  elevated, — that  the  heart  of  the 
devotee  was  deadened,  not  aroused  Avith  the  higher  in- 
stincts of  its  immortal  birth.  But  whence  this  obliquity  of 
character  ?  Is  it  chargeable  to  the  infancy  of  society  ? — 
to  the  feebleness  of  historical  record  and  model?  If  it 
could  be  truthfuUv  ailed sed  that  she  was  deficient  in  these 


256         CONSERVATIVE  POWER   OF  CHRISTIANITY.      [SER. 

things,  it  mgiit  very  well  be  pleaded  as  an  apology  for  her 
want  of  a  purer  literature,  and  of  inductive  philosophy. 
But  if  it  be  true,  that  moral  virtue  depends  neither  upon 
mental  discipline  nor  the  general  facilities  of  society,  it 
still  remains  to  be  shown  why  she  was  so  sadly  defective 
in  morals  and  goodness.  Can  there  be  any  reasonable 
doubt,  that  if  Egypt  had  enjoyed  the  light  and  power  of  re- 
vealed religion, — a  power  pre-eminently  necessary  to  the 
renovation  of  the  lapsed  nature  of  man, — despite  the  disa- 
bilities of  the  age  in  which  she  flourished,  she  might  and 
would  have  displayed,  in  a  far  more  eminent  degree,  the 
real  dignity  of  our  common  nature  ? 

In  our  grateful  contemplations  of  the  fruits  of  a  health- 
ful government,  and  the  general  tendencies  of  education, 
we  are  in  danger  of  forgetting  the  true  relation  which  such 
a  state  of  things  bears  to  the  influences  of  Christianity. 
We  attribute  our  success  to  our  superior  wisdom,  ingenuity, 
and  industry.  Like  Pharaoh  we  say,  "  My  river  is  my  own, 
and  I  have  made  it  for  myself."  That  we,  as  a  nation, 
have  a  more  enlightened  government,  a  wiser  policy,  and 
a  system  of  means  adapted  to  a  higher  standard  of  im- 
provement, is  thankfully  acknowledged.  But  whence  is 
it,  that  in  these  respects  we  are  in  advance  of  many  por- 
tions of  our  race  ?  Will  it  be  said  that  we  had  a  better 
ancestry — that  they  were  devout  and  holy  ?  Devout  they 
■were.  Our  Saxon  fathers  had  gods  many.  They  had 
gods  of  war  and  of  peace  ;  of  concord  and  of  rage  ;  of  sun- 
shine and  of  rain  ;  of  silence  and  of  thunder.  They  had 
gods  in  the  grove,  on  the  sea,  in  the  air,  and  upon  the 
earth.  They  were  worshipers  of  Woden.  Such  were  our 
ancestors. 

If,  then,  our  moral  elevation  and  social  felicity  are  not 
to  be  regarded  as  the  necessary  fruits  of  a  larger  intellect, — 
of  our  franchises, — nor  the  higher  grade  of  our  educational 
means ;  upon  what  principle  can  we  interpret  the  charac- 
teristic happiness  and  prosperity  of  this,  and  every  other 
Christian  nation,  if  not  by  the  fact  that  here  the  rehgion 
of  Jesus  Christ  has  exerted  its  legitimate  power  upon  the 
religious  sentiments  and  manners  of  our  national  being  ? 
Not  that  its  fruits  are  exhibited  by  every  constituent  part 
of  the  body  politic,  but  that  its  leavening  influence  has,  in 
a  degree,  modified  the  whole. 


XVII.]     CONSERVATIVE   POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  257 

It  is  the  grand  design  of  Christianity  to  make  men  pure 
and  happy  in  their  individual  character,  and  by  this  pro- 
cess to  renovate  the  world.  Its  power  is  primarily  exerted 
upon  the  moral  nature  of  man.  It  aims  to  release  him 
from  that  inborn  depravity  from  which  arises  lust,  concu- 
piscence, and  evil  manners.  By  sanctifying  the  heart,  it 
makes  the  fountain  pure,  and  hence  issue  streams  that  are 
pure.  It  lays  the  ax  at  the  root  of  that  evil  tree,  upon 
which  grow,  to  a  sickening  maturity,  falsehood,  injus- 
tice, oppression,  cruelty,  and  every  evil  work.  It  provides 
for  the  exercise  of  eminent  virtue,  by  creating  sound  prin- 
ciples and  pure  affections.  By  enforcing  upon  the  under- 
standing and  conscience  the  great  laws  of  truth  and  holi- 
ness, it  engages  the  exercise  of  benevolence,  justice,  and 
humanity.  These  duties  are  authoritatively  enforced.  It 
lays  the  foundation  of  them  in  the  infinite  and  eternal  rec- 
titude of  almighty  God,  the  Creator  of  all  things.  It  ear- 
nestly, yet  affectionately,  cries  in  the  ears  of  the  world, 
"Be  ye  holy,  for  I,  the  Lord  thy  God,  am  holy."  Clothing 
itself  with  divine  authority,  benevolence,  and  moral  beauty, 
Christianity  comes  forth  from  the  abyssial  depths  of  uncrea- 
ted and  unfathomable  holiness  and  life  to  give  "  grace  and 
glory "  to  man.  The  fact  that  it  teaches  these  duties, — 
duties  which  all  must  admit  are  essential  to  a  complete 
character,  either  personal  or  political, — and  that  no  other 
power  exercising  jurisdiction  over  the  moral  nature  of  man 
can,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  enforce  benevolence,  chastity, 
humanity,  or  inward  purity,  have  we  not  a  right  to  say, 
that  in  the  degree  that  these  felicitous  traits  do  exist,  they 
are  the  fruits  of  the  Christian  religion  ? 

II.  This  conclusion  is  further  sustained  by  a  view  of  the 
general  aspects  of  society  where  Christianity  has  not  been 
known,  or  where  its  authority  has  been  renounced. 

We  shall  not  detail  the  list  of  corruptions  and  cruelties 
which  might  be  drawn  up  from  the  best  historical  authori- 
ties, in  proof  of  this  point ;  but  merely  glance  at  some 
characteristic  features  of  that  portion  of  our  race  to  which 
allusion  has  now  been  made. 

If  the  doctrine  of  progression  w^ere  true,  in  that  sense  in 
which  it  is  held  by  some  theorists,  society,  as  a  whole, 
ought  now  to  be  in  advance  of  any  given  previous  age,  in 
proportion  to  the  distance  of  time  which  has  elapsed  since 


258  CONSEKVATIVE   POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.       [SER. 

the  period  with  Avhich  the  comparison  is  made.  It  is  a 
favorite  notion  with  certain  portions  of  the  transcendental 
school,  that  society  is  like  a  tree,  which,  from  a  mere  germ, 
passes  on  through  a  continuous  development  to  a  positive 
ultimate  perfection.  Thus  each  evolution  of  our  race  de- 
velops some  evidence  of  progress,  and  evolves  some  new 
element  of  future  perfectibility. 

The  completion  of  one  of  these  indefinite  cycles,  casts 
off  the  ejndermis,  or  ross  of  society,  which  exists  in  imper- 
fect religions,  governments,  and  social  laws,  from  which 
time  it  goes  on  in  accelerated  growth  and  improvement. 

According  to  this  very  transcendental  phantasy,  the 
Avhole  world  ought  now  to  be  very  wise  and  very  good. 
The  land  of  the  Ptolomies,  by  this  date  in  the  world's  his- 
tory, should  have  been  almost  above  the  gaze  of  the  rest 
of  the  race.  More  than  thirty  centuries  have  rolled  away 
since  her  lake  Mceris — her  labyrinths — her  catacombs — 
her  mummy  pits,  and  her  pyramids,  were  the  public  testi- 
monials of  her  intellect  and  her  art.  She  had  language, 
religion,  science,  cities,  and  commerce.  Indeed,  she 
has  been  thought  by  some  to  have  been  the  parent  of 
learning  and  philosophy.  But  loliere  is  she  now  ?  And 
what  is  she  now  ?  Her  kings  have  passed  away ;  her 
princes  and  counselors  are  no  more.  Her  temples  have 
crumbled  into  dust,  and  her  cities  are  heaps  of  ruins.  Her 
monumental  pillars  and  mammoth  statuary,  as  if  God 
would  blot  out  her  memory  from  the  earth,  are  now  being 
entombed  by  the  sand  from  the  deserts.  Ichabod  is  writ- 
ten upon  her. 

But  to  return  from  this  partial  digression.  We  are  now 
to  refer  our  readers  to  the  contrasting  characteristics  of 
pagan  and  Christian  society.  And  we  ask,  where,  but 
among  those  portions  of  the  human  family  upon  whom  the 
light  of  revelation  has  shone,  are  the  rights  and  character 
of  woman  acknowledged — general  adequate  provision  made 
for  the  education  of  children ;  where  are  there  hospitals 
for  the  sick — asylums  for  the  infirm — and  houses  of  mercy 
for  the  poor  ? 

Go,  search  through  the  whole  pagan  world,  and  point 
out  a  single  monument  of  its  mercy  ;  its  love  of  man.  No, 
respected  hearer ;  it  requires  the  spirit  of  our  holy  Chris- 
tianity to  move  upon  the  chaos  of  human  nature,  to  evolve 


XVII.]    COHSEBVATIVE  POWER   OF   CHRISTIAl^ITr.  259 

such  a  spirit  as  shone  in  Howard  ;  to  elicit  such  thoughts 
as  were  uttered  by  Clarksoh  and  Wilberforce ;  or  to 
bring  out  such  an  agency  of  usefulness  as  that  which  will 
carry  the  name  of  Robert  Raikes  down  to  the  latest  pos- 
terity. 

And  where,  but  in  Christian  countries,  will  you  find 
wise  and  equal  laws,  or  letters  and  science,  exerting  their 
legitimate  power  in  the  formation  of  society  ?  Or  where 
is  there  paganism,  and  not  brutality,  bestiality,  and  every 
form  of  degradation  ?  Now,  it  cannot  be  alledged  that  this 
state  of  things  arises  from  disabilities  growing  out  of  geo- 
graphical situation,  or  the  climate  under  which  they  live : 
not  that  they  are  mentally  and  constitutionally  incapable 
of  a  better  state.  Still  they  are  degraded  in  intellect,  en- 
slaved by  passion,  fettered  with  superstition,  and  misera- 
ble in  all  the  relations  of  life. 

These  are  the  facts,  and  the  problem  to  which  they  give 
birth  ought  to  be  solved.  The  question  to  be  answered  is 
this  :  Why  is  it,  that  in  a  land  of  Bibles  and  sabbaths,  men 
are  educated,  refined,  and  exalted ;  while  in  those  coun- 
tries where  the  Christian  revelation  is  not  known,  they 
are  ignorant,  debased,  and  wretched  ? 

If  the  fact  of  the  knowledge  or  ignorance  of  that  reve- 
lation does  not  furnish  the  answer,  then  the  phenomena 
remain  unexplained. 

But,  upon  the  principle  now  assumed,  the  whole  ques- 
tion is  clear  of  difficulty  and  doubt. 

The  defections  of  the  pagan  world  arise  mainly  from  the 
disordered  state  of  their  religious  nature.  Their  passions 
have  no  sufficient  restraint ;  their  instincts  have  no  wise 
and  authoritative  law  :  hence  their  intellectual  degrada- 
tion, indeed  the  debasement  of  their  whole  character.  Man 
is  emphatically  a  religious  being.  Those  powerful  in- 
stincts of  his  nature  will  manifest  themselves.  Restrained 
they  cannot  be.  If  they  are  not  enlightened  by  reason  and 
truth,  they  will  range  the  fields  of  imagination  and  cor- 
rupted sense. 

The  result  will  be,  that  their  social  condition  will  be 
determined  by  the  character  of  the  religion  which  they 
embrace.  Here  is  the  true  solution  of  the  whole  question 
now  under  consideration. 

Christianity  is  the  great  fountain  of  truth,  goodness,  and 


260  CONSERVATIVE    POWER    OF   CHRTSTTANITY.       [SER. 

perfection  in  man.  It  is  a  fruitful  scion  of  the  tree  of  life, 
which  Mercy  has  plucked,  and  cast  into  the  "  Marah  "  of 
our  terrestial  state.  And  now,  that  the  springs  of  human 
affection  are  sweetened,  as  they  run  out  through  the  chan- 
nels of  social  and  political  life,  they  spread  joy,  health,  and 
peace,  in  their  course. 

The  general  state  of  society  to  which  we  have  alluded, 
strikingly  illustrates  the  position  that  Christianity  is  the 
only  sufficient  power  to  secure  the  existence  and  exercise 
of  that  moral  goodness  in  man,  which  lays  the  foundation 
of  true  social  and  public  bliss :  and  it  also  shows,  that  if 
we  would  preserve  our  liberties  and  happiness,  our  chief 
reliance  must  be  placed  upon  this  same  great  gift  of  Hea- 
ven. By  this  power,  if  at  all,  are  our  government  and 
free  institutions  to  be  preserved.  The  ministry  and  sacra- 
ments of  our  holy  Christianity  must  send  forth  upon  the 
public  heart  their  influence,  not  only  to  restrain  the  evils 
which  arise  out  of  the  associations  of  life,  but  also  to  purify 
with  their  own  hallowing  grace  the  original  sources  of 
thought  and  action  in  man. 

What  has  now  been  said  is  very  i\\v  from  completing  the 
argument ;  but  our  limited  space  will  not  allow  the  further 
prosecution  of  it.  A  partial  recapitulation  of  what  has 
been  said  must  conclude  this  discussion. 

We  have  conceded  to  the  general  appliances  of  society 
all,  we  think,  that  can  be  reasonably  affirmed  of  their 
power  in  the  formation  of  character ;  but  we  have  endea- 
vored to  show  that  the  real  efficacy  of  these  instrument- 
alities arises  from  the  coexistent  and  coactive  agency  of 
the  Christian  religion ;  that  such  are  the  necessities  and 
activity  of  our  religious  nature,  even  in  our  lapsed  condi- 
tion, that  no  other  than  the  Christian  religion,  both  from 
their  inadaptation  and  Avant  of  authority,  is  adequate, 
either  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  that  nature,  or  develop  the 
virtue  of  which  it  is  capable.  We  have  also  endeavored 
to  make  it  apparent,  that  such  moral  virtue  as  it  is  the  ob- 
ject of  Christianity  to  promote,  is  essential  to  the  perfec- 
tion and  well-being  of  society.  In  support  of  these  posi- 
tions we  have  appealed  to  the  history  of  the  past,  and  to 
the  most  obvious  features  of  the  present  condition  of  our 
race  ;  from  all  of  which  we  feel  authorized  to  say,  in  the 
language  of  our  main  position,  that  Christianity  alone  fur- 


XVII.]     CONSERVATIVE   POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  261 

nishes  the  great  conservative  power  of  social  and  civil  so- 
ciety. 

III.  A  few  remarks  illustrating  the  duty  of  the  church  in 
regard  to  this  great  work  must  close  this  discourse. 

"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth ;"  that  is,  the  body  of  be- 
lievers is  the  repository  of  this  conservative  power.  The 
moral  complexion  and  power  of  the  church  are  taken  from 
the  doctrines  upon  which  it  is  founded ;  hence  the  due  ob- 
servance of  the  ordinances  and  sacraments  of  the  gospel, 
the  faith  and  labors  of  the  church,  are  the  channels  through 
which  this  salutary  influence  is  exerted  upon  the  heart  of 
the  world. 

How  solemn,  and  of  what  moment,  are  the  obligations 
of  the  church !  And  especially  if  it  be  remembered,  that 
God  has  provided  no  other  means  for  the  world's  salva- 
tion :  "  For  if  the  salt  hath  lost  its  savor,  with  what  shall 
it  be  salted?" 

1.  If  the  church  would  accomplish  the  grand  purpose 
of  her  organization,  she  must  be  holy  in  her  constituent 
parts,  as  well  as  zealously  maintain  the  truth  and  faith 
of  the  gospel  m  the  whole  body.  We  must  have  salt  in 
ourselves.  Nothing  can  supersede  the  necessity  of  per- 
sonal piety.  Nothing  can  be  substituted  for  this,  and  we 
secure  the  end  of  ou¥  calling. 

2.  The  duty  of  the  church  is  to  salt  the  earth.  They 
are  to  put  forth  the  savory  influences  of  truth  and  piety 
upon  the  corrupted  masses  around  them.  And,  alas ! 
how  vast  the  quantity  of  error  and  spiritual  death  in  every 
part  of  the  habitable  world !  The  earth  is  one  immense 
Golgotha.  And  who  will  go  forth  as  messengers  of  God's 
mercy  and  grace  to  stay  this  work  of  corruption  and 
death  ?  Will  the  politician  ?  Will  the  magistracy  ?  Will 
the  mass  of  the  people  ?  No,  no,  my  brethren.  They  are 
too  deeply  engaged  in  schemes  of  ambition,  political  in- 
trigue, and  party  management,  to  care  even  for  their  own 
souls  ;  much  less,  therefore,  will  they  care  for  those  who 
are  perishing  for  lack  of  vision.  Stunned  with  the  noise 
and  clatterings  of  the  machinery  of  life,  they  hear  not  the 
cry  of  the  helpless,  nor  the  death-wail  of  the  millions  who 
"  sit  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death."  I  repeat  the  in- 
quiry. Who  will  go  to  their  rescue  ?  Wio,  to  break  the  iron 
chains  of  superstition  in  which  nations  lie  bound  ?      WhOj 


262  CONSERVATIVE   POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.       [SER. 

to  roll  up  to  its  zenith  the  sun  of  truth,  that  its  light,  fall- 
ing upon  the  dark  places  of  the  earth,  may  drink  up  the 
pestiferous  fogs  and  death-burdened  clouds  which,  for  ages, 
have  rested  upon  the  people  ?  Who  is  there  that, 
"  strengthened  with  might  in  the  inner  man,"  will  go  forth 
and  break  the  galling  manacles  of  despotism  and  slavery 
from  the  enthralled  millions  of  man  ?  Who  will  immure 
himself  in  Africa's  sickly  deserts  and  wildernesses,  and  tell 
her  sons,  and  tell  Kaffer's  daughters,  the  story  of  Jesus' 
love  ?  Who  Avill  fly  with  the  banner  of  the  cross,  and 
plant  it  upon  the  islands  of  the  sea  ;  or  bury  himself  in  the 
mountain  passes  and  craggy  fastnesses  of  the  proud  Mus- 
sulman, and  strike  down,  with  "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,'* 
the  emblazoned  crest,  and  echo  through  their  dark  glens, 
along  the  rugged  sides  of  their  hills,  and  over  the  desert 
sands,  the  name  of  our  Immanuel  ?  Who  must  do  this 
"  work  of  faith,"  this  "  labor  of  love,"  and  endure  this  "  pa- 
tience of  hope  ?"  Let  the  living  oracle  answer :  "  Ye  are 
the  salt  of  the  earthJ'  Grace  alone  can  save  the  world  ; 
and  the  church  is  the  only  constituted  medium  of  that 
grace.  Let  the  church,  then,  lay  this  matter  to  her  heart. 
Let  her  ask  herself  if  she  has  done  her  duty.  Has  she 
prayed,  has  she  wept,  has  she  given  as  much — sacrificed 
upon  the  altar  of  God  and  humanity-^as  she  ought  ? 

"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."  What  words  are  these  ! 
— what  responsibilities  do  they  disclose !  Can  the  church 
lay  her  hand  upon  the  text-book  of  her  faith  and  duty,  and 
say  that  she  has  done  all  that  she  can  to  salt  the  earth  ? 
that  she  has  exerted  herself  correspondingly  with  her 
knowledge  and  means,  to  save  men  from  the  deadly  influ- 
ence of  error  and  corruption  ? 

But  why  do  I  talk  of  the  chinrh.  as  if  it  had  ears  to 
hear,  and  a  heart  to  feel  ?  I  must  talk  to  men,  not  to  mere 
ideal  existence. 

Reader,  every  individual  Christian  is  charged  with  his 
measure  of  responsibility  for  this  sacred  work.  Have  you 
done  your  duty  ?  O,  reflect  upon  this  solemn  question ! 
Why  are  not  the  heathen  enlightened  ?  Why  is  not  the 
name  of  Jesus — O,  transporting  name  ! — why  has  it  not 
been  sounded  out  through  the  earth  ?  Why  is  not  the 
banner  of  peace  v/aving  on  every  hill,  from  every  dome, 
minaret,  and  tower  of  Asia  ?     In  a  word,  why  have  not 


XVII.]     CONSERVATIVE  POWER   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  26S 

earth  and  heaven  lifted  up  the  voice  of  triumph,  and 
shouted,  "The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ."  We  leave  you 
to  infer  the  answer,  and  be  ready  to  give  it  when  God 
shall  make  inquisition  for  blood. 

3.  We  cannot  close  these  remarks  without  dwelling  for 
a  moment  upon  the  obligations  to  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  are  shown  by  this  subject  to  rest  upon  the 
whole  community.  With  such  facts  and  reasoning  as  have 
now  been  laid  before  you,  it  seems  hardly  possible  that  any 
reflecting  mind  can  withhold  from  Christianity  the  award 
which  we  have  rendered  it.  And  yet  it  may  be  feared 
that,  with  many,  this  cause  is  to  their  depraved  nature 
what  the  sunlight  is  to  a  diseased  eye — the  source  of  their 
acutest  pain.  Were  it  in  their  power,  if  we  may  judge 
from  their  spirit  and  actions,  they  would  banish  it  from  the 
world.  And  why  ?  What  evil  hath  it  done  ?  Or  to 
Mdiat  mischief  doth  it  tend  ?  What  harm  could  ensue  if  its 
doctrines  were  universally  received — if  its  spirit  were  uni- 
versally diffused  in  society  ?  And  what  if  all  meji  should 
become  just,  temperate,  truthful,  lovers  of  purity  and  good 
order  ?  And  what  if  the  spirit  of  benignity,  philanthropy, 
.and  universal  charity,  should  come  over  the  entire  public 
heart  ? 

Or  if  it  were  not  absolutely  the  whole  heart  of  the  com- 
munity that  Avas  sanctified  byjts  power,  but  only  generally 
renovated  by  its  spirit,  wliat  is  there  to  apprehend  from 
such  a  state  of  things  ?  True,  in  such  a  case  depravity 
would  stand  unmasked  by  the  light  and  power  of  surround- 
ing virtue.  Libertinism  could  no  longer  riot  upon  inno- 
cence and  beauty.  Cupidity  and  avarice  could  no  longer 
glut  their  limitless  maw  upon  the  poor  and  defenseless. 
Lust  and  hate,  envy  and  revenge,  and  every  dire  passion 
of  the  human  heart,  for  want  of  external  objects  to  feed 
upon,  would  consume  their  possessor,  and  nothing  could 
save  him  from  this  precursor  of  an  endless  flame. 

Such  will  be  the  result,  when  "every  knee  shall  bow, 
and  every  tongue  shall  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord 
and  Redeemer." 

The  religion  of  the  Bible  teaches  us  that  "  denying  our- 
selves of  all  ungodliness  and  every  worldly  lust,  we  should 
live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly,  in  this  evil  world,"    It 


264         CONSERVATIVE  POWER  OF   CHRISTIANITY.        [SER. 

commands  chastity,  sobriety,  peace,  brotherly  kindness, 
justice,  truth,  benevolence — in  a  word,  "  whatsoever  is 
pure,  whatsoever  is  lovely,  whatsoever  is  of  good  report." 
Nor  is  this  gospel  in  word  only ;  it  comes  in  "  demonstra- 
tion of  the  Spirit,  and  in  power,  and  in  much  assurance." 

And  with  what  effect  it  has  lifted  up  a  standard  in  the 
land,  we  have  in  part  already  seen  in  the  moral  elevation 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
Beneath  the  auspices  of  a  heaven-descended  religion,  jus- 
tice and  truth  sit  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  elevated  man, 
and  he  may  rest  ''  under  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  and 
there  be  none  to  molest  or  to  make  him  afraid." 

What  is  it  that  gives  value  to  our  property  ?  AYhat  is 
it  that  gives  worth  to  our  franchises  as  citizens  of  these 
United  States  ?  Is  it  not  that  justice,  truth,  and  love  of 
man,  are  ascendant  in  the  public  feeling  and  conduct  ?  Is 
it  not  that  a  high  sense  of  honor  and  integrity  are  among 
the  controlling  influences  of  society  ?  I  of  course  speak  of 
the  general  state  of  morals  among  us.  There  are,  I  know, 
many  painful  cases  which  are  exceptions  to  this  state  of 
things.  But  prostrate  the  influence  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion,— let  her  sabbaths  be  forgotten — let  her  sacraments  be 
renounced — let  her  altars  be  thrown  down — let  her  minis-. 
try  be  despised,  and  her  temples  forsaken — let  her  light  be 
quenched,  and  the  voice  of  her  counsels  and  warnings  be 
hushed — let  her  public  memorials  and  her  private  prayers 
be  struck  out  of  the  controlling  influences  of  life  and  soci- 
ety,— and  to  what  a  horrid  state  of  tilings  should  we  be 
reduced  at  once  !  Rather,  what  wide-spread  desolation 
would  sweep  over  the  nations !  What  would  there  be  left, 
to  save  us  from  such  ruin  ?  Do  you  say,  law  ?  I  answer, 
that  that  would  be  a  mere  mockery  without  moral  virtue 
to  enforce  and  sustain  its  administration.  Do  you  say,  in- 
telligence ?  I  reply  that  tliis,  without  the  presence  and 
coactive  power  of  the  Bible,  would  heighten  rather  than 
lessen  the  terrors  of  the  reign  of  passion.  History  speaks 
upon  this  ]ioint.  Could  you  have  stood  before  Lyons, 
Toulon,  or  Nantes  ;  could  you  have  listened  to  the  death- 
drop  of  the  guillotines  of  Aras,  Paris,  and  Orange ;  you 
might  have  seen  the  sad  fruits  of  such  a  reign,  full-grown 
and  ripe.  The  miseries  of  the  French  revolution  were 
heightened  by  that  very  intelligen(.'e  which,  if  it  could  not 


XVIII.]  LOVE   TO   GOD   AND   MAN.  265 

altogether  have  prevented  it,  should  at  least  have  subjected 
its  process  to  the  control  of  reason  and  humanity.  No, 
my  reader,  it  is  impossible  to  fully  estimate  our  indebted- 
ness to  Christianity.  Giving,  as  it  does,  value  to  our  pos- 
sessions, safety  to  our  persons  and  rights,  zest  and  perpe- 
tuity to  our  friendships,  aliment  and  stability  to  that  pub- 
lic virtue  upon  which  the  whole  fabric  rests,  is  it  unrea- 
sonable to  ask  of  you  hearty  acceptance  and  support  of  a 
cause  which  sustains  the  civilized  world  ? 


SERMON  XVIII. 
hove  to  God  and  Mem —  Christian  Union. 

BY  REV.  JAMES  V.  WATSON, 

OF   THE    MICHIGAN    CONFERENCE. 

"  Thou  Shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  Avith  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all 
thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." — 
Luke  X,  27. 

These  words  are  enforced  in  the  context  by  a  most 
startling  commentary,  and  form  the  Saviour's  reply  to  a  "  cer- 
tain lawyer's"  inquiry,  "  Master,  what  shall  I  do  to  inherit 
eternal  life  ?"  An  inquiry  of  the  highest  moment,  though 
urged,  perhaps,  from  the  unholiest  of  motives.  They  teach, 
then,  the  way  to  heaven.  They  constitute  the  gospel 
touchstone  of  Christian  character.  Ages  of  weal  or  wo 
are  here  balanced  upon  a  first  and  changeless  truth.  The 
final  destiny  of  every  man  will  brighten  or  blacken  for 
ever,  according  as  he  may  experience  and  practice  "  this 
scripture."  Christ  is  not  here  to  be  understood  as  under- 
valuing the  essential  atonement,  and  reposing  the  condition 
of  human  salvation  upon  a  sublime  and  immaculate  mo- 
rality. The  holy  affections  and  lofty  virtue  enjoined  and 
taught  in  this  text  cannot  purchase  heaven  ;  but  they  con- 
titute  the  essential  qualifications  for  its  society  and  service. 

The  theme  imbodied  in  our  text  is  love  to  God  and 
man  ;  and,  in  drawing  upon  it  for  the  matter  of  a  discourse, 
we  shall  attempt,  as  far  as  we  pursue  them,  a  correct  and 
practical  answer  to  two  inquiries  ; — 

12 


26C  LOVE  TO    GOD   AND  MAN.  [SER. 

I.  What  is  implied  in  loving  God?  and, 

II.  What  in  loving  our  neighbor? 

First.  What  is  implied  in  loving  God?  It  is  not  merely 
to  admit  his  existence  and  the  truth  of  his  Bible.  It  is  not 
to  discourse  eloquently  upon  the  majesty  of  his  works  and 
wonders  of  his  providence.  It  is  not  to  soar  aloft  on  fancy's 
fairy  wing,  indulging  the  fervors  of  a  mere  poetic  senti- 
mentality. A  love  for  flowers  and  stars  may  exist  with  a 
loathing  of  holiness.  Fashionable  oratory  often  says  many 
fine  things  about  the  "  Sovereign  of  the  universe ;"  and 
poetry  finds  his  name  and  his  greatness  inscribed  all  over 
the  face  of  the  firmament :  but  the  spirit  of  oratory  and 
poetry,  with  their  beauteous  creations  and  truthful  efiu- 
sions,  may  hold  the  heart  spell-bound  with  enchantment ; 
and  still  it  may  be  "  enmity  to  God."  Can  vSatan  himself 
fail  to  feel  the  overwhelming  oratory  of  the  mighty  truth, 
that  God  is  everywhere,  and  great  and  glorious  in  every- 
thing ?  But  he  never  feels  any  moral  approbation  of  God, 
yearnings  after  him,  and  clingings  to  him.  "  He  believes 
and  trembles."  Bad  men  may  fear  God  when  danger 
threatens  and  thickens  around  them.  When  awakened 
conscience  brings  to  their  recollection  their  broken  vows 
and  lives  of  rebellion,  tears  may  start,  and  a  quaking  may 
get  hold  uj^on  them ;  but  God  is  not  loved :  "  for,  where 
love  is,  it  casteth  out  fear."  Love  to  God  does  not  consist 
merely  in  the  free  flow  of  those  generous  sympathies  and 
chivalrous  impulses  of  our  nature  with  Avhich  some  cha- 
racters are  so  highly  endowed,  and  which  prompt  them 
to  frequent  and  often  daring  deeds  of  mercy.  It  does  not 
consist  in  those  amiable  qualities  of  the  heart  which  throw 
such  an  attraction  around  some  members  of  the  social 
circle.  It  consists  not  in  that  philosophic  fortitude — that 
magnanimity  of  demeanor — that  rigid  observance  of  some 
of  the  cardinal  virtues,  often  so  loudly  praised.  Various 
are  the  forms  of  corrupt  nature.  And  as  the  human  hand 
thrust  into  a  dark  room  retains  for  a  time  some  be- 
dimmed  rays  of  solar  light;  so  the  fallen  human  heart 
seems  at  times  to  reflect,  in  sullied  lustre,  rays  of  its 
primitive  greatness  and  glory.  A  splendid  exemplification 
of  some  single  virtue  often  characterized  the  worthies  of 
heathen  antiquity.  But  the  heart  unrenewed  by  divine 
grace  is  ever  antagonistic  to  God,  "  fully  set  in  the  sinner 


XVm.]         LOVE  TO  GOD  AND  MAN.  267 

to  do  evil."  To  do  everything  "  to  the  glory  of  God"  is 
not  the  supreme  motive  to  which  every  other  is  subordi- 
nate in  any  heart  into  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  not 
breathed  a  new  life.  But  sensuality  and  selfishness,  joint 
monarchs,  sit  enthroned  upon  every  unrenewed  heart,  ap- 
propriating to  themselves,  with  miserly  monopoly,  every 
affection  and  energy  that  rightly  belongs  to  God  :  "  They 
worship  and  serve  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator, 
who  is  God  over  all,  and  blessed  for  evermore." 

Men  often  testify  the  profoundest  respect  for  the  forms  of 
the  sanctuary,  without  sending  up  a  single  affection  of  the 
heart  to  that  God  to  whom  these  services  are  offered ;  and 
they  often  relieve  distress,  in  the  indulgence  of  the  sympa- 
thetic impulses  of  our  common  nature,  when  "  God  is  not 
in  all  their  thoughts"  or  affections.  A  love  of  praise,  a 
hope  of  gain,  or  fear  of  punishment,  are  restraints  to  which 
much,  if  not  most,  of  the  'practical  goodness,  morality,  and 
virtue,  in  the  world,  are  attributable.  These  motives  to 
virtue  are  not  to  be  wholly  reprehended.  They  have 
their  place  in  the  scale  of  what  is  laudable.  But  the  error 
of  men  consists  in  making  these  motives  supreme.  They 
have  usurped  the  claims  of  the  Deity,  when  love  to  him 
should  at  all  times  be  the  sovereign  impulse  of  our  nature. 
"  Thou  shalt  walk  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  love  him 
with  all  thy  heart." 

But  with  hearts  that  repulse  God,  love  to  forget  him, 
continually  prone  to  evil,  how  shall  we  obey  this  injunc- 
tion ?  "We  cannot  obey  it  without  availing  ourselves  of  the 
spiritual  assistance  tendered  us  in  the  gospel :  "  The 
Ethiop  cannot  change  his  skin,  nor  the  leopard  his  spots." 
When  Adam  was  first  created,  the  innate  impulses  of  his 
heart  were  toward  the  glorious  "Father  of  his  spirit;" 
the  constitution  of  his  nature  was  holy.  And  as  it  is  a 
law  of  matter  for  kindred  elements  to  attract  each  other 
and  seek  to  mingle,  so  is  it  also  a  mental  law  for  congenial 
minds  to  seek  association  and  communion — and  so  also, 
morally^  it  is  an  eternal  law  for  similar  moral  natures  to 
attract  each  other,  and  flow  together  by  kindred  affinities. 
Adam  was  created  in  the  "  image  of  God."  To  love  him, 
was  coetaneous  with  his  consciousness;  and  the  heaven 
of  his  soul  was  to  consist  in  the  everlasting  development 
of  this  affection.     All  the  outgoing  glories  of  the  Godhead 


268  LOVE   TO    GOD   AND   MAN.  [SER. 

were  to  reciprocate  it — the  infinitely  varied  achievements 
of  Omnipotence  to  minister  to  its  indulgence.  But  of  this 
noble  endowment  of  our  nature,  which  would  have  lifted 
us  toward  God  for  ever,  and  changed  us  "  from  glory  to 
glory,"  sin  has  shorn  us.  The  diseased  heart  loathes  the 
"waters  of  life."  To  speak  of  neutrality  in  the  moral 
universe,  is  a  solecism :  "  For  he  that  is  not  for  me  is 
against  me."  The  heart  unsmitten  by  sin  would  have  been 
synonymous  with  love ;  but  now,  unregenerate,  it  is  a 
synonym  for  "  enmity "  to  God.  Here  is  the  poisoned 
wound,  of  which  a  fallen  world  lies  bleeding  and  fevered 
to  madness  !  He,  "  in  whom  we  live,  move,  and  have  our 
being,"  lives  not  in  our  love.  And  the  heart  that  excludes 
God,  "  is  dead  in  sin " — totally  destitute  of  bliss  and  good- 
ness. "  In  me,  that  is  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good 
thing."  The  possessor  of  such  a  heart — awakened  to  the 
consciousness  of  its  disinclination  toward  God,  perceiving 
the  moral  blessedness  and  beauty  of  loving  God  and  his 
law,  enthroned  in  eternal  fitness — bewails  his  want  of  ca- 
pacity. Writhing  under  the  "  bondage  of  sin  and  death," 
he  exclaims  in  agony,  "  To  will  is  present  with  me  ;  but 
how  to  perform  that  which  is  good,  I  find  not.  For  the 
good  that  I  would,  I  do  not ;  but  the  evil  which  I  would 
not,  that  I  do.  O  wretched  man  that  I  am !  who  shall  de- 
liver from  the  body  of  this  death  ?"  Such  is  the  state  of  the 
fallen  heart  with  the  light  of  the  divine  law  flashing  full 
upon  it.  Penitently  to  feel,  deplore,  and  confess  its  help- 
less guilt  and  depravity,  and  need  of  a  Saviour,  is  con- 
viction. For  the  heart  to  be  retouched  by  the  same 
all-powerful  Spirit  that  made  it  at  first — in  Scriptural 
language,  to  be  "  created  anew,"  "  born  of  the  Spirit" — is 
regeneration.  And  the  first  emotions  of  affectionate,  moral 
approbation  for  God,  his  truth,  and  his  image,  that  suc- 
ceed this  spiritual  change,  are  the  beginnings  of  love  to 
God — the  buddings  of  a  new  and  blissful  life — the  gush- 
ings  forth  from  salvation's  well  in  the  soul:  "For  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love."  Sanctification  is  this  love, 
reigning  supreme  and  triumphing  over  everything  that 
opposes.  "  All "  the  "  mind  "  learns  of  God ;  "  all  the  heart " 
loves,  with  "  all"  the  outlay  of  its  "  strength."  Knowledge 
is  as  fuel  to  this  heaven-lit  flame ;  and  self-denial  but  prunes 
it  to  purer  brightness.     And  this  "beauty   of  the  Lord 


XVIII.]  LOVE  TO   GOD   AND   MAN.  269 

God"  upon  the  soul  may  grow,  ever  developing  new 
charms,  through  the  longest  life ;  the  hues  of  immortal 
glory,  in  sweet  and  pensive  mellowness,  it  will  shed  over 
the  welcomed  hour  of  mortal  dissolution ;  and  the  soul 
it  will  fit  for  its  flight  to  dwell  among  the  "  angels  of  God," 
and  for  the  ever-endearing  companionship  of  the  ineffably 
glorious  "  Father  of  spirits." 

Love  to  God,  then,  is  not  the  offspring  of  nature  or  of 
earth.  However  chastening  the  educational  discipline  to 
which  it  may  be  subjected;  however  rich  in  scholastic 
embellishments  ;  however  excelling  in  social  refinements  ; 
kind,  bland,  and  fascinating  in  etiquette  ;  the  carnal  heart 
has  no  attraction  for  God.  There  are  some  substances  in 
chemistry  which  have  no  affinity  for  each  other,  and  which 
will  not  coalesce  until  a  third  chemical  agent  is  introduced. 
The  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  restoration  of  the 
fallen  heart  to  a  spiritual  union  with  God  is  a  great  first 
truth  of  the  Bible :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee.  Except 
a  man  be  born  from  above,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God."  And  hence  the  prayer  which  inspiration  hung  on 
the  lips  of  the  sceptred  saint  of  Israel :  "  Create  in  me  a 
clean  heart,  O  God !  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me — 
take  not  thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me." 

This  renewal  of  the  heart  involves  the  present  happi- 
ness and  future  heaven  of  the  soul.  The  relation  between 
God  and  Christians  is  described  in  terms  of  the  most 
touching  tenderness.  He  is  their  "Father"  and  "Friend," 
whose  faithfulness  and  love  "  are  everlasting ;"  and  they 
are  his  "  children "  and  "  little  ones,"  "  led  by  his  Spirit," 
and  "  heirs "  of  all  the  gifts  of  Infinity.  In  speaking  of 
such  a  destiny,  words  become  powerless,  and  the  mind 
adores  in  silent,  reverential  awe.  But  supreme  love  to 
God  is  as  essential  to  its  fulfillment  as  existence.  Love 
to  God  is  the  life,  the  law,  the  light  and  beatitude  of 
angel  natures.  It  binds  all  heaven  in  harmony,  and 
prompts  all  its  transports.  As  a  vast  central  sun,  it  covers 
the  celestial  land  with  glory,  and  warms  into  life  its  eternal 
bloom.  It  is  the  element  by  which  the  soul  was  destined 
to  be  nourished  and  compassed.  It  is  the  great  law  it  was 
at  first  made  to  obey.  To  seek  to  be  happy  without  loving 
God,  is  as  great  folly  as  to  seek  to  exist  independent  of 
God.     When  has  the  history  of  the  world  furnished  an 


270  LOVE   TO   GOD   AND   MAN.  [SER. 

example  of  happiness  commensurate  with  the  wants  of  the 
soul,  but  in  the  "faith,  hope,  and  charity"  of  the  Bible! 
The  existence  of  the  soul  is  denied  the  name  of  "  life,'* 
till  the  affections  are  led  up  through  Jesus  to  the  throne : 
"  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  :  and 
he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the 
wrath  of  God  abideth  upon  him."  To  seek  for  bliss  in 
aught  else,  but  in  entering  the  "strait  gate"  of  gospel 
conversion,  is  to  be  the  perpetual  sport  of  disappointment ; 
yea,  more,  to  "  sow  the  wind  and  reap  the  whirlwinds "  of 
"  everlasting  fire."  It  is  a  truth,  fixed  as  the  pillars  of 
heaven,  that  religion  is  the  staple  necessity,  as  well  as  the 
satisfying  good,  of  the  soul — "  the  one  thing  needful." 

Love  to  God,  like  light  in  nature,  sheds  a  charm  on  all 
it  touches,  and  stamps  every  act  with  virtue.  In  the  sight 
of  Him  "  who  searcheth  the  heart  and  trieth  the  reins  "  ac- 
ceptable obedience  must  be  prompted  by  holy  motives. 
Like  salt,  that  must  n«eds  be  mingled  with  every  accepta- 
ble offering  of  the  altar,  love  must  consecrate  every  act  of 
worship,  for  the  offering  without  it  will  result  in  a  Cain's 
reception.  Without  this,  the  language  of  earth  and  hea- 
ven— "the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understanding  all  myste- 
ries, and  all  knowledge" — ^faith,  that  unseats  "  mountains" — 
the  impoverishing  of  self  to  enrich  others,  and  courting  the 
martyr's  flame,  are  but  noisy  qualifications  and  profitless 
penances.  An  equally  merciful  and  encouraging  test  of 
acceptance  !  Precious  in  the  sight  of  God  may  be  the 
"  mite  "  of  the  widow,  as  the  wealth  of  Solomon ! 

Love  to  God  not  only  fits  man  for  intercourse  with  his 
Maker,  endowing  liis  soul  with  the  joys  of  both  worlds,  but 
it  alone  fits  him  for  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men.  It 
imparts  dignity  and  safety  to  every  relation  ;  tenderness  to 
every  tie ;  and  sweetens  and  exalts  all  the  circles  of  affec- 
tion. Like  the  authority  of  Jesus  upon  the  Sea  of  Galilee, 
it  holds  submissive  the  uprisings  of  rebel  passions ;  and 
peace  and  tranquillity  repose  where  love  reigns.  It  alone 
awakens  sympathies  in  the  heart  of  man,  that  lead  him 
forth  delighted  on  missions  of  mercy,  "  to  raise  up  the 
bound  down  and  bind  up  the  broken-hearted."  Where, 
but  under  the  power  of  the  gospel,  do  those  charities  start 
into  life  that  bless  and  adorn  Society  ?  Where,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  wastes  of  paganism,  has  there  ever  appeared  a 


XVIII.]  LOVE    TO    GOD   AND  MAN.  27% 

living  benevolence,  so  warm  and  so  noble  as  to  seek,  by 
systemized  efforts,  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  race  ? 
to  erect  among  its  countless  forms  of  architectural  magni- 
ficence a  house  of  mercy — a  refuge  for  the  wo-withered 
children  of  misfortune  ;  to  dry  up  the  tears  of  the  orphan 
and  the  widow,  "  and  let  the  oppressed  go  free  ?"  Gentil- 
ism  is  without  great  and  generous  sympathies  ;  cold,  cruel, 
selfish,  and  dissolving ;  striking  asunder  every  bond  of  hu- 
manity— "  without  natural  affection."  When  did  benevo- 
lence ever  flow  forth  in  a  living  stream  of  healing  balm 
upon  the  miseries  of  man,  but  as  the  fruit  of  the  regene- 
rate heart,  and  deform  of  love  to  God  ?  Unconverted  men, 
continuing  such  within  the  warm  sphere  of  its  heavenly 
influence,  may  indeed  be  made  better  by  the  contact,  and 
induced  to  encourage  the  begun  work  of  blessing.  Spirit- 
ual regeneration  is  the  hope  of  the  race :  "  Ye  are  the  salt 
of  the  earth."  This  love,  of  which  we  speak,  is  the  most 
powerful  principle  in  the  universe.  In  the  heart  of  the 
Almighty  it  prompted  to  the  "  unspeakable  gift "  of  Cal- 
vary. In  the  hearts  of  the  martyrs  it  distanced  the  love 
of  life,  and  whitened  the  earlier  battle-fields  of  the  cross 
with  their  bones.  The  love  of  Christ  constraining  us, 
every  individual  of  the  race  becomes  a  neighbor  and  a 
brother.  It  is  the  only  sovereign  that  selfishness  acknow- 
ledges. Fired  by  this  celestial  passion,  it  has  an  ear  for 
every  tale  of  wo,  and  a  heart  that  feels  it  "  better  to  give 
than  to  receive."  And  the  treatment  which  self  would 
desire  in  similar  circumstances,  is  sacredly  meted  out  to  a 
neighbor.  The  heart,  under  its  sacred  dominion,  becomes 
godhke,  and  embraces  a  world  in  its  folds.  The  essence, 
abridgment,  and  sum-total  of  true  religion,  is  love  to  God 
and  man.  All  creeds  that  give  not  a  fundamental  promi- 
nence to  this  truth  are  false.  Faith,  repentance,  the 
sacraments  and  ceremonies  of  religion,  are  but  prelimina- 
ries and  promotives  of  this  high  and  holy  end  of  our  being. 
"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  mth  all  thy  heart, 
mind,  and  strength ;  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."     But, 

Second.  What  is  implied  in  loving  our  neighbor  ? 

It  implies  that  we  act  from  an  enlarged  and  vivid  sense 
of  the  greatness,  the  susceptibilities,  and  the  worth  of  the 
soul,  and  of  our  accountability  to  God.  In  every  impres- 
sion made  upon  human  character  in  the  treatment  of  our 


272  LOVE  TO   GOD  AND  MAN.  [SER. 

fellows,  we  are  exerting  an  influence  that  reaches  forward 
to  the  coming  judgment.  To  those  even  who  have  little 
or  nothing  lovely  in  nature,  grace,  or  conduct,  to  awaken 
in  the  breast  sentiments  of  affection  for  them,  we  should  be 
actively  benevolent,  for  human  nature's  sake,  and  for  God's 
sake :  "  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do 
good  to  them  that  hate  you."  But  those  of  the  "house- 
hold of  faith  "  are  "  shut  up  "  to  love  each  other  by  innu- 
merable endearments.  They  boast  one  Bible,  revealing 
one  common  Father,  Saviour,  Sanctifier,  and  heaven. 
Their  foes  and  fears,  trials  and  triumphs,  joys  and  hopes, 
are  one  :  "  one  body,  one  Spirit,  one  Lord,  one  hope,  one 
faith,  one  baptism."  It  would  scarcely  seem  possible  for 
Christians  to  love  each  other  less  than  they  do.  I  would 
that  it  could  be  said,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  they 
should  love  each  other  more  than  they  do. 

Paraphrasing  the  apostle's  account  of  the  practical  work- 
ings of  this  love,  given  by  him  in  that  distinguished  chap- 
ter, the  thirteenth  of  1  Corinthians,  and  there  denomina- 
ted "  charity,"  we  close  this  head  of  our  discourse. 

"  Charity,"  says  he  of  the  "  third  heaven,"  is  indulgent ; 
leaving  "vengeance"  with  God,  to  whom  alone  it  "be- 
longs," it  disarms  an  enemy  by  the  power  of  its  own 
charms.  It  "  suffereth  long,  and  is  kind."  It  is  above  that 
weakness,  degenerated  into  meanness,  the  suicide  of  its 
own  peace,  and  the  poltroon  traducer  of  the  merits  of 
others — "  Charity  envieth  notP  It  is  self-possessed  with- 
out insensibility,  and  always  ready  without  rashness.  It 
"vaunteth  not  itself."  Ornament  but  disfigures  it,  and 
ostentation  blinds  it.  The  only  rewards  it  seeks  are  the 
sweet  memories  of  miseries  relieved.  Concealment  is  the 
closet  of  its  devotion,  from  whence,  like  God,  its  Author,  it 
often  dries  the  tears  of  grief  with  an  invisible  hand. 
"  Charity  is  not  puffed  up."  On  her  highest  mission  of 
mercy  her  robes  were  "  swaddling  clothes,"  and  the  throne 
of  her  authority  the  cross.  Disdaining  the  hollow  compli- 
ments, and  often  hypocritical  etiquette  of  the  world,  charity 
is  ever  mmdful  of  the  courtesies  and  civilities  due  to  rank, 
office,  and  individuals.  Good  manners  are  among  the 
fruits  of  true  religion  :  "  Doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly." 
All  her  possessions  are  on  the  altar :  "  She  eats  and  drinks 


XVIII.]  LOVE   TO   GOD   AND   MAN.  273 

to  the  glory  of  God."  "  Charity  seeketh  not  her  own." 
She  will  wave  her  just  right  to  secure  a  greater  good: 
"  If  a  man  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak 
also."  "Patient  in  tribulation,"  she  possesses  her  soul 
amidst  the  many  appeals  made  to  fretfulness  and  anger; 
her  submission  imparting  grace  to  affliction  and  sublimity 
to  death.  It  is  like  the  bow  of  beauty,  encircUng  the  brow 
of  the  tempest,  and  embracing  the  track  of  its  ruin. 
"  Charity  is  not  easily  provoked."  Not  forward  in  judging 
others  ;  unsuspecting,  because  pure  in  her  own  motives. 
"  Thinketh  no  evil."  Charity  desireth  not  the  success  of 
error,  though  discovered  in  her  own  long-cherished  creed, 
and  mourns  over  the  misfortunes  of  its  foes.  "  Rejoiceth 
not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth."  In  sympathy 
with  the  melting  compassion  of  the  cross — "  Father,  for- 
give them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do" — charity  blesses 
the  hand  that  smites  it,  if  souls  may  but  thereby  be  saved, 
and  glory  shed  on  the  name  of  Jesus.  "  Beareth  all 
things — endureth  all  things."  Confident  of  the  omnipo- 
tence of  truth,  she  sweetly  anticipates  the  final  overthrow 
of  error.  "  Hopeth  all  things."  And  when  sin  and  dark- 
ness career  over  earth  with  a  dominant  step,  she  works 
and  waits,  without  croaking  or  complaining,  regaling  her 
ears  with  the  lays  of  the  prophets  who  sing  the  universal 
reign  of  Christ — looking  into  her  Bible  and  abroad  on  the 
book  of  Providence,  assured  that  "all  things  shall  work 
together  for  good,"  she  hears  the  coming  voices  of  the  coro- 
nation angels,  and  joins  in  the  rehearsal  for  the  millennial 
morning,  "The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ :  and  he  shall 
reign  for  ever  and  ever."  Her  home  is  the  bosom  of  God, 
and  her  walks  the  circuits  of  the  world.  The  accident  of 
color,  cast,  creed,  or  clime — the  fact  that  the  recipient  is  a 
national,  or  personal  enemy,  forms  no  obstruction ;  chills 
not  her  ardor,  nor  lessens  her  bestowments.  The  gifts  of 
love  are  regulated  only  by  the  necessities  of  the  receiver, 
and  limited  only  by  the  furthest  bound  of  ability.  "  Cha- 
rity never  faileth." 

Love  distinguishes  faith  from  belief;   and   hope,  as  a 
harbinger,  goes  forth  into  the  future,  and  up  to  heaven  to 
gather  fuel  for  the  sacred  flame  :  "  And  now  abideth  faith, 
12* 


274  LOVE  TO   GOD   AND   MAN.  [SER. 

hope,  charity,  these  three :  but  the  greatest  of  these  is 
charity."  "  God  is  love."  May  his  "  will  be  done  on 
earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven." 

I  close  with  a  single  inquiry.  With  such  a  religion, 
what  is  to  prevent  the  union  of  Christians  ?  I  may  think 
the  creed  of  my  brother  abounding  more  in  "hay  and 
stubble  "  than  my  own.  But  does  it  make  paramount  the 
vital  truth  we  have  been  considering  ?  Breathes  its  votary 
the  spiritual  life  of  love  ?  He  reflects  my  Father's  image — 
"  the  family  likeness."  Assuming  that  there  are  more 
•errors  in  the  tenets  of  my  brother  than  in  mine — if,  in 
spite  of  those  errors,  the  dove-like  visitant  from  on  high 
has  "  quickened  "  him  to  "  walk  in  love,"  shall  I  refuse  to 
love  what  God  has  loved  and  made  lovely  ?  Engrossed 
with  "  tithing  the  mint " — straitened  in  the  boundaries  of 
sect — shall  I  say  in  "  deed,"  "  Not  so.  Lord,  for  I  have  never 
eaten  anything  common  or  unclean  ?"  The  truth  is,  all 
that  "  hold  to  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  conversion 
and  sanctitication  of  the  sinner,"  have  a  basis  of  union 
firmer  than  the  "  mountains  round  about  Jerusalem." 

And  having  the  invisible,  why  so  little  of  the  visible, 
union  ?  Having  a  spiritual  union,  why  weaken  it  by  ab- 
surdly making  a  mental  agreement  the  condition  of  mem- 
bership ?  Is  it  a  fixed  law,  that  the  impressions  received 
by  all  minds  from  the  divine  communications  should  be 
identical  ?  Are  honest  differences  of  opinion  sins  ?  Is  it 
not  rather  in  Scripture,  as  it  is  in  nature — a  few  first  obvi- 
ous truths,  of  essential  moment,  are  within  the  reach  of  the 
"  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,"  while  ample  room  is  left 
for  speculation  and  conjecture  ?  And  what  two  minds 
shall  look  out  upon  this  vast  and  shadowy  deep,  and  con- 
tinue to  receive  impressions  just  alike  ?  In  this  view  of 
the  subject,  we  see  divine  wisdom  giving  encouragement  to 
inquiry,  and  caution  to  presumption.  We  are  not  to  be 
understood  as  denying  to  faith  moral  character.  But  the 
faith,  for  which  in  the  gospel  we  are  to  hold  such  a  fearful 
responsibility,  relates  specifically  to  those  few  first  and  une- 
quivocal truths,  in  reference  to  which  it  is  cheering  to 
reflect,  that  all  Christians  abounding  in  the  "  fruits  of  the 
Spirit "  have  always  substantially  agreed.  How  brief  and 
simple  the  "  confession  of  faith  "  that  saves  ! 

Easy  as  is  the  apprehension  of  saving  faith,  is  it  asked, 


XVIIL]  LOVE  TO   GOD  AND   MAN.  275 

"Why,  then,  the  prevalence  of  heretical  creeds  in  the 
world  ?"  Without  giving  the  full  answer  the  question  ad- 
mits, it  is  enough  to  say,  that  nothing  is  clearer  than  that 
they  originate  less  in  ignorance  than  in  depravity.  That 
the  fault  is  in  the  human  heart,  and  not  in  the  ambiguity 
of  the  Scriptures.  This  sorrowful  truth  has  been  a  dis- 
tinct theme  of  prophecy.  But  it  is  not  true,  as  above  in- 
timated, that  Christians,  as  such — men  adorned  with  "  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit" — materially  differ.  They  all  see  alike 
those  great  principles  of  the  gospel,  which  stand  out  like 
the  mountain  in  the  deluge,  the  resting  place  of  faith. 
They  possess,  indeed,  mental  variety,  and  view  under  va- 
ried angles  of  vision.  Variety  with  essential  sameness  is 
just  what  we  might  look  for.  Hence  the  denominational 
phases  of  the  Christian  world  is  a  natural  result — a  divine 
permis.sion  —  a  privilege  —  and  a  blessing.  A  blessing 
abused,  if  it  prevent  the  union  of  Christians :  "  Beloved, 
let  us  love  one  another,  for  love  is  of  God."  Christians 
are  wont  to  confess  the  ease  with  which  the  titles  of  differ- 
ent orders  to  the  family  of  fellowship  are  ascertained. 
Without  fear  of  being  misunderstood,  how  freely  do  they 
employ  the  phrases, ''  Are  they  evangelical  ?"  "  Is  he  ortho- 
dox ?" 

And  is  there  a  sect  in  this  country  to  whom  we  refuse 
these  fraternizing  appellations,  but  what  are  more  or  less 
ephemeral  in  their  existence,  and  unsettled  in  their  views  ? 
But  especially  are  they  marked  by  the  destitution  of  the 
genuine  leaven  of  love.  Men  may  not,  indeed,  be  as  good 
as  their  creeds  would  make  them,  but  they  are  seldom  ever 
better.  "  And  hereby  know  we  the  spirit  of  truth  and  the 
spirit  of  error.  Every  one  that  loveth  is  born  of  God,  and 
knoweth  God."  Love,  then,  is  the  true  basis  and  test  of 
Christian  union.  And  with  the  "  same  spirit,"  and  with  a 
/eligious  belief  essentially  the  same,  what,  I  ask  again,  shall 
stand  in  the  way  of  Christian  union  ?  Nothing,  certainly, 
but  the  want  of  this  love,  and  the  practice  of  what  will 
ever  keep  their  possessors  in  moral  poverty — an  ultra-con- 
servatism in  reference  to  things  indifferent — a  stickling 
tenacity  for  sectarian  peculiarities — wandering  in  the  chilly 
region  of  speculative  orthodoxy  —  dogmatically  drawing- 
inferences  from  awful  and  inexplicable  attributes — exalt- 
ing, unduly,  minor  points  of  doctrine — bandying  freely  the 


276  CHRISTIAN  DISCIPLINE.  [SER. 

technicalities  of  sect,  but  too  often  the  "shibboleths"  and 
landmarks  of  bigotry — denominational  jealousy  ;  forgetting 
that  the  true  interest  of  one  is  the  true  interest  of  all. 
But  let  a  genuine  "  brotherly  love  abound,"  and  these  de- 
mons of  discord,  and  "  little  foxes"  that  fret  and  cripple 
the  vines,  will  fly  before  it,  as  diseases  and  devils  fled  at 
the  bidding  of  Christ.  There  will  be  a  struggle  for  the 
greatest  possible  agreement,  and  the  least  possible  dis- 
agreement. Christians  will  rejoice  that  there  is  so  much 
in  which  they  can  agree,  and  so  little  in  which  it  now  be- 
comes so  sweet  to  "  agree  to  disagree." 

"  Finally,  brethren,  let  brotherly  love  continue."  "  Zion 
put  on  thy  strength !"  We  have  quite  too  long  fought  the 
common  foe  divided.  Thank  God,  the  recent  noble  move- 
ments in  favor  of  Christian  union ;  the  not  altogether  un- 
successful attempts  to  give  to  it  a  form  and  tangibility,  be- 
speak a  brighter  day  for  the  church.  Haste,  haste  the 
answer  to  the  Redeemer's  dying  prayer.  He  looked  to  it 
as  the  dawn  of  millennial  morning — a  period  of  univer- 
sal faith  ; — "  That  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  thou.  Father, 
art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us : 
that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me." 


SERMON    XIX. 

Christian  Discipline. 

BY    REV.   ELI  AS    BOW  EN,  A.M., 

OF  THE  ONEIDA  CONFERENCE. 

"Moreover,  if  thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell 
him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone :  if  he  shall  hear  thee,  thou 
hast  gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he  will  not  hear  thee,  then  take  with 
thee  one  or  two  more,  that  in  the  mouth  of  tAvo  or  three  witnesses 
every  word  may  be  established.  And  if  he  shall  neglect  to  hear  them, 
tell  it  unto  the  church :  but  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the  church,  let  him  be 
unto  thee  as  a  heathen  man  and  a  publican.' — Matt,  xviii,  15-17. 

If  we  except  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  gospel, 
no  theme  presents  a  stronger  claim  to  our  consideration 
than  Christian  discipline.  It  is  to  the  due  observance  of 
this  we  are  to  look  for  the  maintenance  of  practical  godli- 


XIX.]  CHRISTIAN  DISCIPLINE.  277 

ness,  without  which  it  is  vain  to  talk  of  Christian  expe- 
rience, or  place  any  reliance  on  our  belief  in  Christian 
doctrine.  In  treating  upon  the  subject  of  Christian  disci- 
pline, its  object,  its  mode  of  administration,  and  its  im- 
portance, will  furnish  our  leading  heads  of  discourse.  But 
as  the  general  range  of  this  subject  would  be  too  wide  for 
our  present  purpose,  extending  to  various  branches  beyond 
the  scope  of  the  text,  we  shall  take  it  up  only  as  it  relates 
to  offending  members  of  the  church. 

L  We  shall  first  ascertain  the  object  op 
Christian  discipline. 

1.  This,  with  many,  is  made  to  consist  in  redressing 
their  own  grievances,  or  in  recovering  some  violated,  per- 
sonal right.  Others  place  it  in  purifying  the  church  by 
the  excommunication  of  all  delinquents,  whether  they  have 
been  guilty  of  immorality,  imprudence,  or  a  breach  of  dis- 
cipline. And  a  third  class,  in  punishing  the  offender,  or 
in  the  infliction  of  a  judicial  penalty  upon  him.  But 
the  great  object,  according  to  our  text,  lies  in  reforming 
the  offender  himself,  by  the  means  which  our  text  pre- 
scribes. 

2.  It  is  admitted  that  the  redress  of  our  personal  griev- 
ances, the  purifying  of  the  church  from  corrupt  members, 
and  the  punishment  of  offenders,  considered  as  disciplinary 
rather  than  judicial,  are  to  be  reckoned  among  the  objects 
of  Christian  discipline ;  but  in  the  higher  object — the  re- 
formation, and  consequent  salvation,  of  the  offender — all 
these,  where  that  object  succeeds,  are  clearly  embraced  ; 
for  should  the  offender  be  truly  reformed,  these  minor  ob- 
jects, as  a  thing  of  course,  would  be  realized  through  his 
own  agency  ;  ample  restitution  would  soon  be  made  to  any 
he  has  injured,  as  in  the  case  of  Zaccheus  ;  the  church 
would  be  effectually  purified  by  the  reformation  rather 
than  the  expulsion  of  a  member — a  result  entirely  conge- 
nial with  her  better  feelings.  And  his  keen  self-reproach, 
the  bitterness  of  his  grief  arising  from  a  sense  of  the  wound 
he  had  inflicted  upon  the  cause  of  Christ,  would  be  a  severer 
punishment  than  all  the  ecclesiastical  penalties  that  could 
be  heaped  upon  him.  In  the  same  proportion,  therefore, 
as  the  subordinate  objects  of  Christian  discipline  are  de- 
sirable, we  should  exert  ourselves  to  reform  the  offender, 
as  the  most  effectual  means  of  securing  them. 


278  CHRISTIAN   DIsCirLINE.  [SEE. 

11.  The  mode  of  administemng  Christian  disci- 
pline. 

1.  On  this  point  there  is  too  little  uniformity,  the  mode 
of  administration  usually  being  found  to  vary  with  the  ob- 
ject it  is  intended  to  achieve.  Those  who  look  upon  self- 
redress  as  the  sole  object  of  Christian  discipline,  are  often 
exceedingly  troublesome  in  their  application  to  the  church 
for  justice  ;  and,  feeling  little  regard  for  any  one's  interest 
but  their  own,  they  seem  to  forget  that  others  have  rights 
as  well  as  themselves,  or  that  the  awards  of  justice  might 
possibly  go  against  them,  in  the  issues  they  make  with  so 
many  of  their  brethren.  The  idea  that  they  have  sur- 
rendered a  portion  of  their  individual  rights  for  the  benefits 
of  society  scarcely  enters  into  their  thoughts  ;  and  hence, 
while  they  have  nothing  to  sacrifice  for  the  common  good, 
nothing  to  give  for  the  support  of  religious  institutions,  the 
church  which  they  have  joined  for  their  own  exclusive 
benefit,  and  to  which  they  esteem  their  bare  names  an 
honorable  acquisition,  must  sacrifice  eveiything  for  their 
sake.  Rights  which  they  never  possessed  in  any  capacity, 
or  which  they  have  vested  in  the  government  of  the  church 
for  the  due  regulation  of  society,  are  claimed  ;  and  if  their 
claim  is  not  allowed — if  they  are  not  permitted  to  rule,  or 
to  monopolize  the  prerogatives  of  the  church  without  re- 
sistance— they  feel  that  they  are  injured,  that  they  have 
cause  of  just  complaint;  and,  if  the  evil  can  be  identified 
with  some  individual  belonging  to  society,  that  they  are 
entitled  to  redress  by  the  official  interposition  of  the 
church,  as  if  she  were  organized,  with  all  her  privileges, 
authorities,  and  institutions,  for  their  accommodation. 

2.  Those  who  undertake  to  purge  the  church  from  all 
her  delinquent  members,  as  the  great  object  of  Christian 
discipline,  must  adapt  the  means  to  the  end  also.  With 
them,  in  general,  the  first  step  is  to  take  up  a  systematic 
course  of  evil  speaking,  collecting  all  the  faults  of  the  sup- 
posed offender,  whether  real  or  imaginary,  and  reporting 
them  with  no  little  exaggeration,  that  they  may  pave  the 
Avay  for  his  expulsion  by  prejudicing  the  society,  who  are 
to  sit  in  judgment  upon  his  case,  against  liim.  A  show  of 
following  the  direction  of  our  Saviour  in  the  text,  however, 
must  be  kept  up :  accordingly  they  "  go  "  to  the  offender, 
"  and  tell  him  his  fault ;"  but,  upbraiding  him  as  an  enemy 


XIX.]  CHRISTIAN  DISCIPLINE.  279 

instead  of  "  admonisliing  him  as  a  friend,"  he  is  rather 
alienated  than  gained  by  their  pious  "  labor ;"  and  when 
they  have  loaded  him  with  their  accusations,  reproaches, 
and  abuses — when  they  have  freed  their  tender  minds  by 
telling  him  all  that  was  in  their  hearts,  without  "  gaining 
him,"  then,  "  taking  with  them  one  or  two  more,"  of  con- 
genial spirit,  they  endeavor  to  '"'  catch  him  in  his  words," 
that  they  may  be  able  to  convict  him  before  the  church. 
Having  now  taken  the  first  and  second  steps  of  gospel 
labor  Avithout  success,  or  rather  having  made  these  pre- 
liminary arrangements  for  the  conviction  of  the  offender, 
they  "  tell  it  unto  the  church,"  demanding  her  interference, 
not  as  an  ecclesiastical  judicatory  to  determine  the  guilt  or 
innocence  of  the  accused  by  a  proper  trial,  but  as  an  ex- 
ecutive functionary  to  administer  a  decision  which  they 
have  already  made,  or  to  cut  off  a  member  on  whom  they 
have  already  passed  the  sentence  of  condemnation.  The 
mandate  is  issued  with  the  authoritative  sanction, — "  hereof 
fail  not  at  your  peril !"  To  their  dictum  the  cringing 
church  must  implicity  submit,  nor  fail  to  recognize  their  su- 
premacy, by  executing  the  sentence  they  have  pronounced 
upon  the  offender,  on  pain  of  the  withdrawment  of  their 
membership,  or  at  least  of  their  support !  Menace,  in  ad- 
vance, is  their  ad  captandum  resort. 

3.  The  same  correspondence  of  the  means  to  the  end  is 
apparent  in  the  proceedings  of  those  who  make  the  punish- 
ment of  the  offender  the  object  of  Christian  discipline. 
The  lex  talionis  is  made  their  only  rule  of  action  in  deal- 
ing with  offending  brethren.  They  virtually  say,  by  the 
mode  of  administration  which  they  adopt  in  church  trials, 
"  Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay ;"  and  if  a  requital  in 
kind,  as  "  an  eye  for  an  eye,  or  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,"  be 
impracticable  in  some  cases,  still  the  law  by  which  they 
are  governed  knows  no  mercy,  and  summary  justice  must 
be  visited  upon  the  head  of  the  offender  :  he  must  "  be  re- 
warded "  even  here  "  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body." 

With  such  objects  and  modes  of  Christian  discipline  in 
the  management  of  church  difficulties,  the  greatest  evils 
must  be  expected  to  follow ;  and  to  this  cause  more  than 
any  other,  nay,  than  all  others  put  together,  may  be  traced 
our   littleness   of  success  in  reclaiming   our   trespassing 


280  CHRISTIAN  DISCIPLINE.  [SER. 

brethren,  and  maintaining  good  order  in  society.  To  at- 
tempt, through  the  intervention  of  church  trials,  to  redress 
our  own  personal  grievances,  to  purge  the  church  of  delin- 
quent members  by  that  cutting  and  slashing  process  which 
proceeds  irrespective  of  their  own  well-being,  or  to  wreak 
our  vengeance  upon  the  hated  offender  by  the  infliction  of 
judicial  punishment,  is  to  make  the  church  of  Christ  an 
arena  of  conflict  where  passions,  and  prejudices,  and  inter- 
ests the  most  selfish,  are  brought  into  collision  with  the 
deadliest  effect  upon  her  prosperity  !  And  yet  there  are 
few  cases  of  church  trial,  it  is  to  be  feared,  where  these 
pernicious  elements  are  not  seen  to  mingle  more  or  less  in 
the  administration  of  Christian  discipline.  This  state  of 
things  calls  loudly  for  reform  ;  and  I  hope  a  remedy  which 
infinitely  exceeds  the  "  one-idea "  schemes  of  reform  that 
are  abroad  in  our  land — an  all-sufficient  remedy — will  be 
brought  to  view  in  the  further  elucidation  of  our  text. 

4.  As  it  is  the  main  object  of  Christian  discipline,  so 
far  as  offending  members  of  the  church  are  concerned,  to 
reform  and  save  them,  so  the  means  adapted  to  this  object 
are  those  prescribed  in  the  text  under  consideration,  which 
we  shall  now  proceed  to  analyze  and  explain. 

(1.)  The  first  step  in  the  process  is  described  In  the 
following  language  : — "  If  thy  brother  shall  trespass  against 
thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone  ;" 
and  this  step  is  divisible  into  three  constituent  points, 
which  we  shall  distinguish  by  changing  the  emphasis  as  we 
proceed  with  the  explanation.  "  If  thy  brother  shall  tres- 
pass against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  faidt,'^  that  is,  any 
fault  he  may  have  committed,  whether  personal  or  other- 
wise— any  fault  by  which  he  himself  is  liable  to  be  injured. 
I  am  aware  that  many  limit  the  direction  here  to  personal 
offenses :  "  If  thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,''  say 
they,  that  is,  if  he  shall  inflict  on  thee  a  personal  injury, 
"  go  and  tell  him  his  fault:"  but  when  we  consider  that  our 
chief  business  with  the  offender  is  to  reform  him,  and  that 
there  is  more  hope  of  success  where  w'e  have  no  personal 
connection  with  the  evil  to  be  cured,  we  are  compelled  to 
maintain,  in  opposition  to  such  an  interpretation,  that  of- 
fenses in  general,  witliout  any  limitation  or  restriction,  are 
intended.  In  confirmation  of  this  view,  St.  Paul  says  to 
the  Galatians, — "  Brethren,  if  a  man  be  overtaken  in  a 


XIX.]  CHRISTIAN    DISCIPLINE.  281 

fault,"  that  is,  any  fault,  "  ye  who  are  spiritual  restore  such 
a  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness ;  considering  thyself,  lest 
thou  also  be  tempted."  And  then,  every  offense  of  which 
any  one  is  guilty  in  the  church  is  a  trespass  against  each 
of  his  brethren  as  an  individual  whose  social  rights,  at 
least,  are  violated  thereby.  Again :  "  If  thy  brother  shall 
trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault ;"  that  is, 
tell  it  to  the  offender  himself,  and  to  no  one  else.  If  it  be 
publicly  known,  the  repeating  it  openly  could  answer  no 
good  end,  certainly,  as  the  public  are  already  in  possession 
of  the  news,  and  will  be  able  to  wield  it  against  the  cause 
of  religion  with  sufficient  malignity  without  our  aid.  Or, 
if  it  be  a  secret  to  all  but  ourselves  as  individuals,  it  will 
be  time  enough  to  make  "  one  or  two  others  "  acquainted 
with  it  when  we  shall  have  failed  to  gain  our  offending 
brother  by  2i  private  interview,  and  need  their  assistance 
in  taking  the  second  step.  It  is  no  palliation  of  the  offense 
that  we  did  not  originate  the  report  against  our  brother, 
but  only  gave  it  to  others  as  it  was  given  to  us ;  for  the 
"  taking  up  a  report  against  him"  that  is  already  in  circu- 
lation, like  the  passing  of  bad  money,  places  us  in  the 
same  class,  and  subjects  us  to  the  same  penalty  with  the 
counterfeiter  himself.  Nor  are  we  at  liberty  to  dwell 
upon  the  faults  of  an  absent  person  in  private  conversation, 
even  where  the  subject  is  introduced  to  us  by  others :  the 
article  is  contraband :  we  may  not  deal  in  it  at  all.  And 
he  who  justifies  the  practice  of  evil  speaking  upon  the 
plea  that  courtesy  obliges  him  to  entertain  every  topic  of 
discourse  which  happens  to  be  introduced,  can  have  little 
knowledge  either  of  Christian  morality  or  of  the  proprie- 
ties of  social  life.  Any  individual  mentioning  the  faults 
of  an  absent  person  in  our  presence,  with  an  exception  we 
shall  hereafter  notice,  merits  an  immediate  rebuke,  which 
should  be  more  or  less  severe  according  to  circumstances ; 
the  very  gentle  admonition  of  Mr.  Fletcher  in  such  cases — 
"  Well,  let  us  pray  for  him" — furnishing  an  example  of 
the  mildest  form.  Or,  if  we  carry  the  emphasis  still  fur 
ther  forward,  the  text  will  then  read, — "  If  thy  brother 
shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault  be 
tween  thee  and  him  alone,'^  that  is,  in  the  absence  of  all 
other  persons.  The  least  acquaintance  with  human  na- 
ture will  teach  us  that  private  reproof  is  far  more  salutary 


282  CHRIST1A^•    DISCIPLINE.  [SER. 

in  its  effect  than  public.  It  has  very  little  tendency  to 
awaken  in  the  offender's  breast  that  pride  of  character 
which,  being  kindled  into  mortification  or  resentment  when 
he  is  reproved  in  company,  arms  him  against  the  convic- 
tions of  truth,  and  leads  him  to  deny  or  justify  the  fault  of 
which  he  has  been  guilty.  On  the  contrary,  when  you 
"  tell  him  his  fault  between  you  and  him  alone,'"'  the  evi- 
dence which  this  method  affords  of  your  unaffected  friend- 
ship can  hardly  fail  to  gain  his  confidence,  and  strike  a 
chord  in  his  heart  that  must  vibrate  to  the  voice  of  admo- 
nition. 

(2.)  Should  we  fail  of  success,  however,  after  a  thorough 
trial  of  our  individual  influence,  which  may  sometimes  be 
the  case,  we  are  required  as  a  second  step,  which  may  not 
improperly  be  termed  associated  labor,  to  "  take  with  us 
one  or  two  more,  that  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  wit- 
nesses every  word  may  be  established."  But,  keeping  in 
view  the  reformation  of  the  offender,  we  should  approach 
him  wdth  the  double  advantage  of  having  selected  our 
helpers  with  a  special  regard  to  the  confidence  he  has  in 
their  friendship,  and  the  genuineness  of  their  piety.  Sin 
is  a  moral  disease ;  and  he  who  has  fallen  under  its  influ- 
ence by  the  commission  of  crime,  should  be  treated  in 
some  sort  like  a  sick  person:  instead  of  being  neglected, 
or  intrusted  to  unskillful  hands,  the  most  likely  means  for 
restoring  him  to  health  should  be  employed  ;  he  should  be 
made  the  subject  of  our  watchful  solicitude,  of  our  daily 
prayers  before  the  mercy-seat,  and  of  our  tender  care. 
How  few,  if  such  were  the  efforts  put  forth  for  the  healing 
of  backsliders,  would  fail  to  be  reclaimed !  How  strong 
the  hope,  that  scarcely  one  in  a  thousand  of  our  offending 
brethren  would  be  lost  to  the  church,  did  we  labor  with  as 
much  activity  and  skill  to  recover  a  deserter  from  our 
ranks,  as  the  world  do  from  theirs  !  O,  how  seldom  should 
we  be  called  to  mourn  over  a  case  of  final  apostasy,  had 
we  as  much  sympathy  for  those  who  are  afflicted  with  the 
disease  of  sin,  as  for  our  natural  friends  who  are  laboring 
under  bodily  disease — as  much  sympathy  for  our  spiritual 
kindred  as  for  our  kindred  according  to  the  flesh  ! 

(3.)  If  we  should  still  fail  to  "  gain  our  brother,"  which 
must  rarely  happen  under  the  circumstances,  our  Lord  has 
directed  us,  as  the  third  and  last  step  of  gospel  labor,  to 


XtX4  GSSISTIAN   DISCIPLINE.  283. 

"  tell  it  unto  the  cliurch,"  that  her  counsel,  authority,  and 
influence,  may  be  added  to  the  efforts  already  employed  for 
the  reformation  of  the  offender.  Tell  it  to  the  church — not 
to  the  woiid :  public  opinion,  to  which  so  many  appeal  for 
the  trial,  or  rather  for  the  condemnation,  of  their  brethren, 
is  not  the  tribunal  to  which  we  are  referred  in  such  cases 
by  our  blessed  Lord;  the  rather,  he  says,  "Tell  it  unto 
the  church ;"  that  is,  lodge  a  formal  complaint  against  the 
offending  individual  with  the  preacher  in  charge,  or  regu- 
lar pastor,  who  is  the  proper  organ  of  bringing  him  before 
the  church  for  trial.  This  is  an  arrangement  in  which  the 
divine  wisdom  and  mercy  are  beautifully  combined,  the  last 
resort  being  made  to  the  only  remedy  which  remains  to  so 
obstinate  a  subject;  and  as  individuals  who  have  taken  the 
lead  in  the  previous  steps,  we  must  feel  greatly  relieved 
when  the  offender  whom  we  could  not  cure  is  handed  over 
to  the  church  of  which  he  is  a  member.  The  anxiety  and 
spirit  of  dictation  which  are  manifested  by  those  who  have 
other  ends  to  answer  by  the  arraignment  of  the  offender 
than  such  as  are  conr.ected  with  his  own  final  welfare  have 
no  place  in  our  minds  :  we  feel  that  the  church,  from  the 
plurality  of  her  number,  the  amount  of  her  collective  wis- 
dom, and  the  experience  she  must  be  supposed  to  have  in 
matters  of  Christian  discipline,  will  be  able  to  dispose  of 
the  case  according  to  its  real  merits.  Or,  if  injustice 
should  now  be  done,  the  responsibility  will  rest  upon  the 
church,  we  having  discharged  our  duty  in  bringing  the 
accused  person  regularly  before  her.  The  general  opinion 
is,  that  the  dispensation  of  mercy  on  the  part  of  the  church 
ceases  toward  the  offender  the  moment  he  is  put  upon  his 
trial,  or  that  the  poor  outlaw,  having  sinned  away  the  day 
of  grace  by  resisting  the  previous  overtures  of  gospel  labor, 
must  be  inevitably  cut  oft'  if  the  crime  alledged  be  proved 
against  him  ;  but  the  phrase,  "  If  he  neglect  to  hear  the 
church,"  evidently  implies,  that  if  he  hear  the  church,  that 
is,  comply  with  her  requisitions,  or  give  evidence  that  he  is 
a  true  penitent  before  God,  which  is  all  she  has  a  right  to 
require,  she  has  the  prerogative  of  mercy,  and  may  "  remit 
his  sins,"  that  is,  grant  him  an  ecclesiastical  pardon,  and 
still  retain  him  within  the  pale  of  her  communion,  even  at 
this  stage  of  the  process.  The  idea  that  an  individual 
proved  guilty  before  an  ecclesiastical  court  must  be  ex- 


284  CHRISTIAN  DISCIPLINE.  [SER. 

pelled  for  the  credit  of  the  church,  whether  he  be  penitent 
or  not,  is  at  variance  with  every  principle  of  good  govern- 
ment ;  the  credit  of  the  church  can  never  require  the  with- 
drawal of  her  fellowship  from  a  penitent  offender,  whom 
the  Lord  of  life  and  glory  has  forgiven ;  he  is  now  a  child 
of  God — a  brother  beloved — now  his  fellowship  is  with  the 
Father,  and  with  the  Son,  and  truhj  it  should  he  with  his 
brethren  in  the  church.  He  had  been  guilty,  it  is  true  ;  and 
who  among  his  brethren  had  not  ?  A  rule  or  principle, 
therefore,  which  would  throw  him  out  of  the  church,  for 
that  reason  would  dismember  the  whole  of  us ;  and  how 
M^ould  the  ends  of  Christian  discipline  be  answered,  or  the 
credit  of  the  church  be  secured,  by  such  a  course  of  admin- 
istration ?  In  some  instances,  doubtless,  the  profession  of 
penitence  on  the  part  of  the  offender  requires  time  to  test 
its  genuineness.  In  a  case  of  this  sort,  his  expulsion  should 
unquestionably  take  place  :  the  church,  to  whom,  as  yet,  he 
is  only  known  as  an  impenitent  offender,  may  now  proceed 
against  him  in  good  faith ;  and  though  for  himself  he  is 
fully  conscious  of  his  restoration  to  (he  divine  favor,  he 
should  be  satisfied  with  the  reflection  that  his  connection 
with  the  church  is  sacrificed  to  the  operation  of  a  rule  the 
suspension  of  which  would  involve  an  amount  of  evil,  as  a 
general  consequence,  that  must  greatly  overbalance  the 
particular  benefit  he  would  derive  from  the  continuance  of 
his  membership.  But  where  the  case  is  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  afford  the  church  reasonable  satisfaction  of  the 
restoration  of  the  offender  to  the  favor  of  God,  she  is 
bound  to  "  forgive  him,  not  till  seven  times,  but  until  sev- 
enty times  seven."  As  it  relates  to  an  excluded  person 
whom  we  have  not  been  able  to  gain  after  passing  over 
the  entire  course  of  labor  prescribed  in  the  text,  our  Lord 
says, — "  Let  him  be  unto  thee  as  a  heathen  man  and  a 
publican,"  that  is,  as  any  other  sinner,  who  is  still  entitled 
to  our  sympathies,  our  instructions,  and  our  prayers.  To 
pursue  an  excommunicated  person  with  accusations  and 
reproaches  beyond  the  pale  of  the  church,  would  be  down- 
right persecution.  The  expulsion  of  a  member,  whatever 
may  be  the  magnitude  of  his  offense,  is  punishment  enough : 
at  any  rate,  it  is  all  we  are  authorized  to  inflict.  And  even 
this  should  be  administered  as  a  disciplinary  rather  than 
as  a  judicial  measure ;  the  reformation  of  the  poor  degraded 


XIX.]  CHRISTIAN   DISCIPLINE.  285 

culprit  being  still  kept  in  view.  Still  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  he  is  "  delivered  to  Satan  for  the  destruction  of 
the  flesh,  that  the  soul  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the 
Lord  Jesus." 

III.  We  come  now  to  consider  the  importance 
OF  CnnrsTiAN  discipline  as  it  relates  to  the  treat- 
ment OF  delinquents. 

1.  "We  might  here  urge  the  purity  of  the  church,  which 
can  only  be  maintained  by  the  exclusion  of  incorrigible 
offenders,  and  the  godly  restraint  thereby  imposed  upon  her 
members  generally ;  but  passing  over  this  consideration, 
the  recovery  of  the  offender  himself,  as  the  paramount  ob- 
ject of  Christian  discipline,  stamps  it  with  infinite  import- 
ance. The  recovery  of  a  lost  child — O  how  absorbing! 
There  is  no  call  to  which  the  heart  of  a  parent  responds 
with  such  overwhelming  emotions  !  He  searcheth  dili- 
gently for  the  lost  piece  of  silver-— he  goeth  into  the 
mountains  for  the  lamb  that  has  gone  astray — he  hails  the 
return  of  the  prodigal  son  with  the  highest  demonstrations 
of  joy ;  hence  the  pathetic  exclamation  of  Jehovah  when 
the  children  of  his  love — his  ancient  covenant  people — • 
had  erred  and  strayed  like  lost  sheep  : — "  How  can  I  give 
thee  up,  Ephraim  ?"  and  hence  the  tears  of  our  blessed 
Lord,  when  he  wept  over  Jerusalem,  saying,  "If  thou 
hadst  known,  even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things 
which  belong  to  thy  peace  !  but  now  they  are  hid  from 
thine  eyes."  And  shall  the  deepest  sympathies  of  Heaven 
be  enlisted  for  the  poor  backslider,  and  the  church  feel  no 
interest  in  bringing  her  offending  children  to  repentance  ? 
Ah  !  who  can  appreciate  the  value  of  an  immortal  soul — 
"  its  price  all  price  beyond  ?"  We  have  no  plummet  to 
fathom  the  depth  of  immortality — no  line  to  measure  the 
duration  of  etenial  ages.  The  vast  susceptibility  of  the 
soul  for  pleasure  or  pain,  when  associated  with  endless 
existence,  is  alone  the  measure  of  its  untold  value.  How 
infinitely,  then,  must  it  cheapen  the  soul  of  an  offending 
brother  to  look  upon  his  situation  with  cold  indifference,  or 
to  immolate  his  membership,  so  necessary  to  his  continu- 
ance in  the  divine  life,  upon  the  altar  of  self-redress,  a 
bigoted  exclusiveness,  or  the  judicial  infliction  of  pains  and 
penalties  !  We  can  have  little  claim  to  the  dying  love  of 
Jesus,  who  "  came  to  call  sinners  to  repentance,"  and  spilt 


286  CHRISTIAN   DISCIPLINE.  [SER. 

his  blood  upon  the  cross  for  their  redemption — little  claim 
to  those  tender  Cliristian  sympathies  which  glow  in  the 
bosom  of  a  heaven-born  soul — little  claim  to  the  better 
feelings  of  common  humanity  even,  if  the  salvation  of  the 
offender  do  not  engage  our  tenderest  solicitude  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  Christian  discipline. 

2.  The  importance  of  attending  to  Christian  discipline  in 
the  mode  prescribed  appears  in  a  strong  light,  when  we 
look  at  our  covenant  relation  to  each  other  as  a  Christian 
community.  Society  is  a  divine  institution,  the  obligations 
of  which  are  binding  upon  all  its  members :  and  as  God 
has  impressed  upon  us  a  social  character,  placing  us  in  so- 
ciety for  the  purposes  of  mutual  oversight  and  improve- 
ment, it  is  far  from  being  optional  with  us  whether  we  will 
take  up  a  labor  with  the  offending  brother  or  not.  We 
have  no  discretion  in  the  premises — ^no  right  to  bear  in 
silence  an  injury  inflicted  upon  us  by  a  member  of  the 
church,  or  suffer  the  offender  of  any  sort  to  pass  unre- 
proved,  if  we  would.  The  taking  up  a  labor  with  any 
brother  who  has  gone  astray,  whether  his  offense  be  per- 
sonal or  otherwise,  becomes  at  once  our  duty  as  the 
aggrieved  party,  and  a  right  which  the  offender  is  author- 
ized to  claim  at  our  hands,  by  the  very  terms  of  church 
covenant  existing  between  us — a  right  we  are  no  more  at 
liberty  to  w^ithhold  from  him  than  to  take  away  his  pro- 
perty, his  reputation,  or  his  life.  The  obligations  and 
claims  respectively  of  this  covenant  are  greatly  strength- 
ened by  the  solemn  promise  we  have  made  to  watch  over 
each  other  as  Christian  friends,  to  stand  as  sentinels  upon 
each  other's  conduct,  and  to  guard  each  other's  interests  by 
all  suitable  means. 

3.  In  the  absence  of  every  other  argument,  however, 
the  importance  of  attending  in  a  proper  manner  to  the 
rules  of  Christian  discipline  is  clearly  deducible  from  the 
command  of  our  Saviour  in  the  text  under  consideration  : 
— "  Go,"  says  he,  with  absolute  authority — "  If  thy  brother 
shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  Vault  be- 
tween thee  and  him  alone."  As  the  language  here  is  im- 
perative, there  is  no  discretion  left  us,  either  as  to  the  duty 
enjoined,  or  the  manner  in  v/hich  it  shall  be  performed. 
We  are  not  at  liberty  to  begin  with  the  last  step  and  end 
with  the  first :  or  to  take  a  part  of  the  course  and  dispense 


XIX.j  CHBISTIAN   DISCIPLINE.  287 

with  the  remainder,  unless  the  object  contemplated  be  ac- 
complished before  we  get  through  :  but  in  all  cases  of  ob- 
stinate delinqiiency  we  are  required  to  pass  over  the  entire 
process  in  precisely  the  same  order  which  the  text  pre- 
sents, without  the  least  modification  or  change.  And  this 
requirement,  it  should  be  kept  in  mind,  is  made  by  the 
same  authority  which  has  enjoined  upon  us  the  exercise 
of  faith,  of  repentance,  of  prayer  ;  leaving  us  no  more  op- 
tion in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other :  in  both,  it  is 
Christ's  to  command^  it  is  ours  to  obey. 

It  only  remains  to  draw  a  single  inference  from  the  sub- 
ject, and  answer  a  few  objections  which  some  have  urged 
against  the  doctrine  here  laid  down. 

The  inference  to  be  drawn  is,  that  our  Lord,  by  enjoin- 
ing a  specific  mode  of  executing  Christian  discipline,  has 
plainly  inhibited  every  other  mode.  Were  the  restriction 
imposed  negative  in  its  character,  all  beyond  would  lie  open 
to  us — any  mode  not  embraced  in  the  restriction  might  be 
practiced ;  but  as  it  is  positive,  pointing  out  what  we  shall 
do  rather  than  what  we  shall  not  do,  we  are  absolutely 
limited  to  the  mode  prescribed.  The  offender  is  to  be 
treated  in  the  manner  here  specified,  and  no  other.  We 
have  nothing  to  do  with  him  either  as  it  relates  to  him- 
self, to  the  church,  or  to  any  ])ersonal  claim  we  may  be 
supposed  to  have  in  the  premises,  aside  from  our  Lord's 
direction  in  the  text.  What  then  shall  we  say  of  those 
with  whom  the  whole  course  of  Christian  discipline,  from 
the  first  to  the  last  step,  is  made  to  consist  in  speaking  evil 
against  the  offender  behind  his  back  ?  They  feel  them- 
selves under  no  obligation,  it  would  seem,  and,  what  is  still 
worse,  perhaps,  they  have  no  disposition,  to  trouble  them- 
selves with  the  reformation  of  the  offender,  by  resorting  to 
the  appointed  means.  The  publication  of  his  faults,  often 
exaggerated  and  blackened  by  the  gall  of  their  own  lips, 
being  far  more  congenial  with  their  spirit,  they  presume 
to  incorporate  the  practice  with  their  creed,  in  utter  disre- 
gard of  our  Saviour's  direction.  The  only  exception  to  the 
rule  requiring  that  we  shall  speak  of  no  one's  faults  be- 
hind his  back,  in  Christian  ethics,  is  where  you  have  no 
other  means  of  protecting  an  innocent  person  from  the  as- 
saults of  an  enemy,  than  by  acquainting  him  with  the  medi- 
tated attack.     This  exception,   so   uniformly  allowed  by 


288  CHRISTIAN   DISCIPLINE.  [SER. 

ethical  writers,  is  clearly  authorized  by  the  example  of 
St.  Paul,  where  he  says  to  Timothy,  in  one  of  his  epistles, 
"  Alexander  the  coppersmith  did  me  much  evil :  of  whom 
be  thou  ware  also."  But  when  we  consider  that  the 
apostle  gave  this  caution  to  Timothy  in  a  private  letter, 
which  never  saw  the  light,  so  far  as  we  know,  till  the 
coppersmith  was  no  longer  in  a  condition  to  be  injured  by 
its  publication,  and  that  he  speaks  with  great  reserve,  say- 
ing no  more  than  was  strictly  necessary  to  guard  a  Chris- 
tian minister,  young  and  inexperienced,  "  his  own  son  in 
the  gospel,"  of  whom  he  had  the  particular  oversight,  from 
falling  into  the  snare  of  an  old  adversary,  we  shall  find  no 
precedent  here  for  those  gratuitous  attacks  upon  the  per- 
sonal character  of  individuals  which  amount  to  evil  speak- 
ing. The  general  rule  still  remains  in  full  force  :  ''  If  thy 
brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault 
between  thee  and  him  alone."  Tell  him  his  fault,  but  "  tell 
it  not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon,  lest 
the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice,  lest  the  daughters 
of  the  uncircumcised  triumph  !"  Above  all,  publish  it  not 
in  the  newspapers  ;  for  the  holding  up  of  names,  dignita- 
ries, administrations,  to  public  odium  under  the  pretext  of 
correcting  their  errors,  is  a  deed  of  darkness — a  work  that 
belongs  to  the  devil  and  his  angels — a  practice  as  distant 
from  the  spirit  of  Christianity  as  heaven  is  from  hell — a 
low,  malignant,  cowardly  practice,  which  can  only  be 
pursued  in  direct  contravention  to  the  doctrine  of  the  text. 
Objection  1.  "But  are  we  not  to  denounce  sin  every- 
where ?  and  especially  in  the  church  ?  Is  it  not  written, 
'  Thou  shalt  in  anywise  rebuke  thy  neighbor,  and  not  suf- 
fer sin  upon  him?'  that  we  shall  'have  no  fellowship 
with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  but  rather  reprove 
them?'"  Ay,  the  duty  of  opposing  sin  is  clearly  en- 
joined in  the  Scriptures :  we  are  required  to  oppose  it  in 
all  its  multiform  phases,  "  wrestling  against  principalities, 
against  powers,  against  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places, 
against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,"  and  the 
more  the  better ;  but  when  we  come  to  the  manner  of  dis- 
charging this  duty,  it  is  as  clearly  enjoined  upon  us  to  keep 
within  the  prescribed  mode,  avoiding  all  personalities,  with 
the  single  exception  already  noticed.  The  imprudent 
friends  of  a  cause  are  its  greatest  enemies,  and  they  who 


XIX.]  CHRISTIAN   DISCIPLINE.  280 

apply  the  rules  of  Christian  discipline  in  a  rash,  unscrip- 
tural  manner,  or  undertake  to  cure  the  faults  of  an  offender 
by  exposing  them  to  public  censure,  instead  of  taking  up 
a  Scriptural  labor  with  him,  are  sure  to  defeat  their  own 
object.  It  is  not  enough  that  we  fulfill  our  duty  to  the 
letter,  much  less  that  our  object  only  is  right,  the  spirit 
and  manner  to  be  observed  in  our  movements  are  entitled 
to  no  little  consideration. 

Objection  2.  "  "Well,  if  we  have  mentioned  the  faults  of 
an  absent  person,  we  have  said  nothing  but  what  was 
true."  So  much  the  worse  for  him ;  for  had  it  been  a  mere 
fabrication  it  might  have  been  easily  refuted,  and  the  in- 
jury would  have  been  temporary ;  but  as  it  was  all  true, 
a  permanent  injury  has  been  inflicted.  The  notion  that 
we  have  a  right  to  tell  anything  about  a  person  barely  be- 
cause it  is  true,  has  no  foundation  either  in  law  or  in 
morals.  Mr.  Wesley  maintains  that  "  evil  speaking  con- 
sists in  saying  anything  about  a  person  to  his  injury,  whe- 
ther true  or  false  ;"  and  the  well-known  legal  maxim,  "  The 
greater  the  truth,  the  greater  the  slander,"  is  made  the 
basis  of  procedure  in  all  criminal  courts  where  personal 
character  is  assailed  from  malicious  motives.  Nor  does  it 
alleviate  the  evil  that  you  speak  witli  a  nod  of  the  head, 
a  squint  of  the  eye,  or  some  other  oblique  motion ;  for 
inuendoes,  of  all  language,  is  the  most  sneakish  and 
deadly. 

Objection  3.  "  But  we  only  mention  the  absent  person's 
faults  to  his  friends,  who  would  take  no  advantage  of  the 
circumstance."  Worse  and  worse ;  for  his  enemies  were 
lost  to  him  before,  and  now  you  would  deprive  him  of  his 
friends — a  calamity  that  is  scarcely  to  be  endured.  "  Nay, 
but  we  vv^ere  careful  to  guard  him  against  anything  of  this 
kind,  by  premising  that  we  ourselves  were  his  friends,  and 
would  not  hurt  the  hair  of  his  head."  And  this  is  the 
worst  of  all ;  as  it  will  now  be  said  that  even  his  friends 
can  no  longer  support  him,  or  say  anything  in  his  favor. 
This  is  the  very  kiss  of  betrayal — the  placing  one  upon  a 
pinnacle  that  his  fall  may  be  the  more  fatal.  Had  you 
honestly  announced  that  you  were  the  enemies  of  the  slan- 
dered individual,  and  meant  to  injure  him,  it  would  have 
come  much  nearer  the  truth,  doubtless,  and  been  far  less 
likely  to  impair  his  reputation,  or  endanger  the  salvation 
13 


290  CHRISTIAN   DISCIPLINE.  [SER. 

of  his  soul  by  excluding  him  from  those  friendly  associa- 
tions he  otherwise  might  have  enjoyed. 

Objection  4.  "  At  all  events,  we  felt  it  incumbent  on  us 
to  put  the  public  upon  their  guard  by  acquainting  them 
with  the  character  of  a  person  by  whom  they  were  liable 
to  be  imposed  upon."  And  did  you  feel  yourselves  called 
upon  to  guard  the  public  against  imposition  by  traducing 
a  fellow-citizen  in  direct  violation  of  the  divine  command  ? 
Will  you  say,  then,  "  Let  us  do  evil  that  good  may  come  ? 
adopting  the  maxim  that  "  the  end  sanctifies  the  means? 
And  who  hath  required  this  at  your  hands  ?  The  better 
way  to  guard  the  public  against  the  depredations  of  im- 
posture is  to  reform  the  villain,  if  he  be  a  member  of  the 
church,  by  following  the  directions  of  the  text :  or,  if  this 
cannot  be  done,  his  expulsion  from  among  us  in  due  order 
will  be  a  sufficient  notice  to  the  public  of  his  true  charac- 
ter. And  to  those  who  are  beyond  the  pale  of  the  church, 
we  can  only  say,  in  the  language  of  St.  Paul,  "  For  what 
have  I  to  do  to  judge  them  also  that  are  without  ?" 

Objection  5.  "  Well,  indeed,  if  we  may  not  mention  the 
faults  of  others,  except  in  disciplinary  proceedings,  the 
interest  of  social  intercourse  must  be  reduced  within  ex- 
tremely narrow  limits."  Then  it  is  hoped  there  will  be 
less  gossiping  among  us,  as  its  chief  motive,  in  that  case, 
would  be  taken  away.  But  is  there  no  relief  of  this  great 
evil  to  be  expected  ?  Is  the  tongue  to  be  laid  aside  as  a 
useless  member  only  when  it  can  be  employed  in  the  work 
of  slander  and  detraction  ?  What  a  reflection  upon  our 
Maker,  that  he  should  give  us  a  tongue  for  scarcely  any 
other  purpose  than  to  scandalize  our  neighbor,  whom  he  has 
commanded  us  to  love  as  ourselves ;  or  that  he  has  made 
our  social  happiness  to  consist  in  devouring  one  another, 
by  a  practice  he  has  so  positively  interdicted !  As  I  am 
anxious,  however,  to  relieve  those  who  are  so  much  em- 
barrassed in  their  social  intercourse  by  the  restraints  of 
virtue,  I  will  venture  to  suggest  that  were  they  to  employ 
one-half  of  the  time  they  now  spend  in  backbiting  their 
neighbors  in  storing  their  minds  from  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  other  useful  books,  they  might  be  furnished  with  con- 
versational topics  enough  to  occupy  the  other  half  without 
one  syllable  of  evil  speaking. 

The  beloved  disciple  says,  "  Whosoever  hateth  his  bro- 


XIX.]  CHEISTIAN  DISCIPLINE.  291 

ther  is  a  murderer ;  and  ye  know  that  no  murderer  hatli 
eternal  life  abiding  in  him."  But  if  to  speak  evil  of  a 
brother  is  to  hate  him,  as  it  undoubtedly  is,  then  whoso- 
ever speaketh  evil  of  his  brother  is  a  murderer  !  Horrible 
thought — whosoever  speaketh  evil  of  his  brother  is  a  mur- 
derer !  And  how  many  murderers  must  there  be  in  the 
church !  O,  gracious  heaven  !  have  mercy  upon  us,  have 
mercy  upon  us ;  and  rescue  us  from  the  murderer's  hell, 
by  removing  far  from  us  his  blood-stained  character ! 

There  is  no  apology  for  the  sin  of  evil  speaking,  the 
means  of  full  information  upon  the  subject  being  in  our 
own  hands.  The  language  of  that  blessed  "  Word,  who 
shall  judge  us  in  the  last  day,"  is,  "  Let  all  bitterness,  and 
wrath,  and  clamor,  and  evil  speaking,  be  put  away  from 
you,  with  all  malice — speak  not  evil  one  of  another — speak 
evil  of  no  man — laying  aside  all  malice,  and  all  guile,  and 
hypocrisies,  and  envies,  and  evil  speaking ;  as  new-born 
babes,  desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word."  And  yet, 
under  the  full  blaze  of  this  heavenly  light,  there  are  thou- 
sands among  us,  it  is  to  be  feared,  who  are  in  the  constant 
habit  of  evil  speaking.  The  faults  of  the  absent,  which 
they  are  diligent  to  collect,  furnish  them  a  favorite  theme 
for  every  occasion.  Nor  is  there  any  respect  of  persons 
with  them :  the  same  measure  is  impartially  meted  to  all 
the  absent,  whether  friend  or  foe. 

The  proximate  cause  of  this  deplorable  practice  is, 
doubtless,  to  be  sought  in  a  want  of  experimental  piety ; 
but  as  the  remote  cause,  it  must  be  traced  to  general  ex- 
ample— the  example  of  parents,  of  the  church,  and,  I  blush 
to  make  the  acknowledgment,  of  preachers  also !  With 
many,  this  dreadful  habit,  having  been  formed  in  early 
life,  has  grown  with  their  growth,  and  strengthened  with 
their  strength,  until  it  is  scarcely  more  heeded  by  them 
than  the  pulsations  of  their  hearts,  or  the  respiration  of 
their  lungs. 

"  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead  ?  Is  there  no  physician 
there  ?  Why,  then,  is  not  the  health  of  the  daughter  of 
my  people  recovered  ?"  Why  should  the  languishings  of 
Zion  be  mourned  over  from  generation  to  generation  as 
the  effect  of  evil  speaking,  when  there  is  an  all-sufficient 
remedy  provided  in  the  gospel  ?  The  application  of  Chris- 
tian discipline,  in  the  mode  prescribed,  cannot  fail  to  work 


292  CHARITY  TO   THE  POOR.  [SEE. 

a  cure.  This  is  the  remedy  in  question ;  therefore,  "  if 
thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,"  do  not  permit  the 
idea  of  self-redress,  of  purifying  the  church,  or  of  punishing 
the  offender,  to  supersede  the  main  object  of  Christian 
discipline :  least  of  all  shouldest  thou  dare  to  speak  evil 
of  him  by  way  of  retaliation  or  reprisal,  but — "  go  and  tell 
him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone :  if  he  shall  hear 
thee,  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he  will  not 
hear  thee,  then  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more,  that,  in 
the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses,  every  word  may  be 
established.  And  if  he  shall  neglect  to  hear  them,  tell  it 
unto  the  church :  but  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the  church,  let 
him  be  unto  thee  as  a  heathen  man  and  a  publican."  The 
direction  of  our  Lord  here  marks  the  extent  of  human 
responsibility,  by  defining  our  duty  in  relation  to  an  of- 
fending brother;  and  here  our  business  with  him  must 
end. 


SERMON  XX. 

Charity  to  the  PoorJ* 

BY  REV.  CHARLES  ADAMS,  A.  M., 

or  THE   NEW-ENGLAND   CONFERENCE. 

"  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for 
you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world :  for  I  was  an  hungered,  and 
ye  gave  me  meat :  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink :  I  was  a 
stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in :  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  :  I  was  sick, 
and  ye  visited  me  :  I  was  in  prison,  and  je  came  unto  me. — Inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me." — Matt,  xxv,  34-36,  40. 

Charity,  in  the  enlarged  sense  of  that  term,  must  be 
pronounced  the  characteristic  feature  of  Christianity.  It 
was  from  this  divine  principle  that  Christianity  had  its 
origin.  The  most  sublime,  as  well  as  the  most  attractive 
description  we  have  of  the  Deity  is,  that  God  is  love. 
This  is  the  fair  and  glorious  radiance  emanating  from  the 
great  Supreme,  and  animating  and  blessing  the  universe 

*  Preached  at  Bromfield-street  Church,  Boston,  Dec.  21,  1845,  in 
behalf  of  the  Ladies'  Benevolent  Society  connected  with  said  church. 


XX.]  CHARITY  TO  THE  POOR.  293 

of  hiwS  creation.  Nor  has  that  aspect  of  love  been  veiled 
even  toward  the  rebellious  and  apostate  race  of  man.  For 
God  loved  this  world,  though  fallen :  and  so  loved  it  that 
he"  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  For 
God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world, 
but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be  saved.  If  there 
has  been  from  eternity  such  another  exhibition  of  boundless 
charity  displayed  to  the  universe,  the  intelligence  has  never 
reached  our  world.  Man  was  a  transgTCSsor.  The  sword 
of  eternal  justice  was  unsheathed,  and  what  shall  prevent 
his  utter  ruin  ?  Infinite  charity,  in  union  with  boundless 
wisdom,  presented  the  momentous  response ;  and  it  was 
proclaimed  in  heaven  and  upon  earth  that  a  ransom  was 
found. 

Christ  came — ^the  great  personification  of  charity.  He 
came  on  an  embassy  of  charity  such  as  had  never  been 
conceived,  save  in  the  infinite  mind.  In  the  spirit  of  his 
mission — ^the  spirit  of  divine  charity — he  humbled  himself 
to  a  participation  in  the  nature  of  the  lost  race,  and  He 
who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be 
equal  with  God,  yet  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  took 
upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the 
likeness  of  men.  And  blessed  were  the  few  years  of  his 
career  among  men.  As  he  passed  hither  and  thither,  it 
was  God  with  man.  From  his  lips  went  forth  words  of 
infinite  charity  and  condescension.  As  he  moved  amid 
the  listening  crowds,  they  heard  him  speak  as  never  man 
spake.  In  his  mighty  charity  he  preached  the  gospel  to 
the  poor,  he  healed  the  broken-hearted,  he  proclaimed  de- 
liverance to  the  captives,  and  recovery  of  sight  to  the 
blind,  and  set  at  liberty  them  that  were  bound,  and  an- 
nounced the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord.  Wherever  he 
came,  disease  fled  at  his  approach.  He  looked  upon  af- 
flicted and  dying  ones,  and  they  revived  and  stood  upon 
their  feet,  and  leaped  for  joy.  Without  money  and  with- 
out price,  he  pointed  out  the  paths  of  life  to  thousands. 
He  went  through  all  their  cities  and  villages,  teaching  and 
preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  all  man- 
ner of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease  among  the  people. 
His  nature  and  his  name  was  charity.  He  literally  went 
about  doing  good  to  the  souls  and  bodies  of  the  multitude. 


294  GHABITX  TO  THE  FOOK.  [SEE. 

A  few,  and  a  few  only,  of  the  instances  of  his  charity  have 
been  recorded  for  our  admiration,  and,  so  far  as  possible, 
for  our  imitation.  There  were  many  other  things  which 
Jesus  did  ;  the  which,  if  they  should  be  written,  every  one, 
I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself  would  not  contain  the 
books  that  should  be  written.  Thus  he  lived.  His  entire 
pathway  beamed  with  the  pure  and  brilliant  effulgence  o£ 
heavenly  charity.  As  he  approached,  the  waste  places 
broke  forth  into  joy,  and  together  sung,  "  How  beautiful 
upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  Him  that  bringeth  good 
tidings  ;  that  publisheth  peace ;  that  bringeth  good  tidings 
of  good ;  that  publisheth  salvation  !'*  He  is  extended  upon 
the  cross,  at  length,  and,  dying  there,  his  death  was  the  life 
of  the  world.  That  death  was  the  most  illustrious  exhibi- 
tion of  infinite  charity  that  the  universe  had  ever  beheld. 
By  the  grace  of  God  he  tasted  death  for  every  man.  He 
seized  the  cup  of  trembling  from  the  pale  lips  of  millions, 
and  drank  it  to  the  dregs.  The  flaming  sword  was  aimed 
at  the  sinner's  heart ;  the  Saviour  leaped  between,  receiv- 
ed the  wound,  and  bled.  From  happiness  ineffable  he 
retired,  and  took  upon  him  the  burden  of  exceeding  sor- 
row. The  griefs  of  a  world  were  laid  upon  him,  and  he 
bore  them.  From  the  pure  sunbeams  of  infinite  favor,  he 
passed  behind  that  awful  cloud,  and  consented  for  a  time 
to  be  forsaken  of  God,  and  forego  his  smiles,  that  those 
smiles  might  rest  upon  a  race  that  had  otherwise  been  for 
ever  fallen — for  ever  unredeemed.  He  descended  to  this 
world  bearing  with  him  unbounded  riches,  and  came  and 
invited  ruined  man  to  partake  of  them  and  live  for  ever. 
For  ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that, 
though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  he  became  poor, 
that  ye,  through  his  poverty,  might  be  rich.  And  now  he 
that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us 
all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ! 

Contemplate  thus  the  great  Christian  scheme.  This 
heavenly  structure — this  building  of  God — arose  from  the 
heavings  of  boundless  charity.  This  mysterious  and  hal- 
lowed influence,  compassing  the  eternal  well-being  of  men ; 
it  was  not  merely  an  effulgence  from  the  infinite  mind — it 
was  the  mighty  outbreaking  from  the  infinite  heart. 
There  was  amazing  charity  in  the  gift  of  Christ, — and 
when  he  came, — and  when  he  ministered,— and  when  he 


XX.J  -  CHARITY  TO  THE  POOR.  29^ 

died, — and  when  he  ascended,  and  received  gifts  for  men, — 
and  opened  the  floodgates  of  salvation  for  the  renewal  and 
immortal  life  of  a  world. 

Charity,  then,  is  the  grand  foundation  of  the  Christian 
structure.  Let  us  pass,  now,  to  a  superficial  glance  at  the 
genius  of  the  structure  itself,  and  impress  ourselves  with 
the  fact  that  the  result  is  harmonious  entirely  with  its 
cause.  He  whose  nature  is  charity,  should  he  provide  a 
system  of  salvation  for  any  race  of  his  creatures,  might  be 
supposed  to  present  a  religion  with  charity  written  upon 
its  front,  as  among  its  capital  features.  Such  is  the  reli- 
gion of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Every  page  of  its  sacred 
records  sparkles  with  the  enchanting  radiance.  God  is 
love ;  and  men,  contemplating  his  character  through  his 
word,  thus  seeing  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are 
changed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  as  by  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  re- 
ceive— a  maxim  which  the  wisdom  of  this  world  has  never 
to  this  day  been  able  to  understand — is  the  fair  proclama- 
tion of  the  religion  of  Jesus.  This  heaven-born  system  is 
the  imbodiment  of  whatsoever  things  are  kind,  and  benig- 
nant, and  lovely,  and  compassionate.  Christianity  looks 
forth  upon  the  varied  sorrows  of  this  world,  and  weeps  at 
the  sight.  The  poor  and  the  wretched  are  her  special 
care.  She  lingers  not  in  the  mansions  of  opulence  and 
splendor.  The  palace  may  open  its  ample  doors,  and  dis- 
play its  spacious  and  lofty  apartments,  with  all  their  rich 
and  dazzUng  scenery— while  forms  of  beauty  may  walk 
there,  whose  every  step  is  light  and  beautiful  as  the  "  ra- 
diant footstep  of  Aurora," — and  charming  music  may  steal 
along  those  halls — and  luxurious  viands,  borne  from  va- 
rious climes,  may  greet  the  eye  and  invite  the  taste — and 
the  cup  of  worldly  pleasure,  in  its  overflowing  fullness,  may 
there  be  drunk  long  and  deeply ; — yet  from  all  that  bril- 
liant scenery  religion  retires,  and  chooses  rather  to  walk 
amid  lowly  vales,  and  hastens  to  cheer  with  her  presence 
the  habitations  of  want,  and  delights  to  wipe  away  the  tear 
from  the  cheek  of  sorrow,  and  pour  the  wine  of  consolation 
into  the  broken  heart.  "  My  son,"  she  whispers,  "  despise 
not  thou  the  chastening  of  the  Lord,  neither  be  weary  of 
his  correction.  Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  he 
shall  sustain  thee.     He  is  a  strength  to  the  poor ;  a  strength 


296  CHARITY  TO   THE  POOR.  [SER. 

to  the  needy  in  his  distress  ;  a  refuge  from  the  storm ;  a 
shadow  from  the  heat.  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for 
they  shall  be  comforted."  Then  to  the  more  prosperous 
and  happy  Christianity  turns,  and  bespeaks  their  pity  and 
beneficence  in  behalf  of  the  destitute.  I  command  thee, 
she  proclaims,  that  thou  open  thy  hand  wide  unto  thy 
brother — to  thy  poor  and  to  thy  needy  in  thy  land. 

To  the  rich  man  inquiring  the  way  of  salvation,  she 
responds.  Go  and  sell  that  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor, 
and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven. 

To  those  who,  in  the  midst  of  darkness  and  distress, 
would  see  brighter  and  happier  days,  she  asks,  "  What  does 
the  Lord  thy  God  choose  ?  Is  it  not  to  deal  thy  bread  to 
the  hungry,  and  that  thou  bring  the  poor  that  are  cast  out 
to  thy  house  ?  when  thou  seest  the  naked,  that  thou  cover 
him,  and  that  thou  hide  not  thyself  from  thy  own  flesh? 
Then  shall  thy  light  break  forth  as  the  morning,  and  thy 
health  shall  spring  forth  speedily.  Then  shalt  thou  call, 
and  the  Lord  shall  answer ;  thou  shalt  cry,  and  he  shall 
say,  Here  I  am.  If  thou  draw  out  thy  soul  to  the  hungry, 
and  satisfy  the  afflicted  soul,  then  shall  thy  light  rise  in 
obscurity,  and  thy  darkness  be  as  the  noonday." 

Does  any  one  inquire  the  way  to  great  prosperity  and 
abundance  ?  Religion  responds,  "  Give,  and  it  shall  be 
given  unto  you ;  good  measure,  pressed  down,  shaken  to- 
gether, and  running  over,  shall  men  give  into  your  bosom." 
"  And  he  that  hath  pity  upon  the  poor,  lendeth  to  the  Lord, 
and  that  which  he  hath  given  will  he  pay  him  again." 

If  any  would  have  some  special  help  when  the  day  of 
adversity  comes,  religion  whispers,  "  Blessed  is  he  that 
considereth  the  poor ;  the  Lord  will  deliver  him  in  time 
of  trouble." 

If  any  one  delights  that  his  prayers  should  be  regarded 
in  heaven,  religion  points  him  to  Cornelius,  who,  while  he 
prayed  to  God  always,  gave  much  alms  to  the  people ;  to 
whom  an  angel  said,  "  Thy  prayers  and  thine  alms  are 
come  up  for  a  memorial  before  God." 

To  him  who  would  turn  to  God  and  receive  his  smiles, 
religion  proclaims,  "  Break  off  thy  sins  by  righteousness, 
and  thy  iniquities  by  showing  mercy  to  the  poor." 

Finally,  if  any  one  longs  to  be  welcomed  to  everlasting 
life,  religion  points  such  a  one  to  the  last  great  day,  and  bids 


XX.]  CHARITY  TO  THE  POOR.  297 

him  listen  while  the  awful  Judge,  in  the  hearing  of  the 
universe,  shall  say  to  those  on  his  right  hand,  "  Come,  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for 
you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  For  I  was  hungry, 
and  ye  gave  me  meat ;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me ;  sick, 
and  ye  visited  me.  And  these  shall  go  away  to  everlast- 
ing Ufe." 

Such  is  the  genius  of  religion.  So  true  is  it,  that "  pure 
religion  and  undefiled  before  God  and  the  Father  is,  that 
a  man  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction, 
and  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world."  The  off- 
spring of  infinite  charity,  charity  is  its  very  nature,  and  it 
proclaims  to  all  its  lovers,  "  Freely  ye  have  received,  freely 
give." 

We  submit,  secondly,  that  while  the  all- wise  God  has  es- 
tablished with  men  a  religion  whose  nature  is  charity,  there 
is  obviously  a  peculiar  fitness  in  such  an  arrangement. 

This  world  is  a  scene  of  much  poverty  and  misery. 
Perhaps  there  is  no  village  or  neighborhood  upon  earth 
where  there  is  not  more  or  less  of  wretchedness.  Christ 
said  to  his  disciples,  "  The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you." 
And,  in  accordance  with  this  declaration,  we  find  the  poor 
in  every  place — in  every  age.  There  are  those  who  are 
literally  poor;  that  is,  destitute  of  the  comforts  of  Hfe. 
And  there  are  those  who  are  poor  in  respect  to  happiness ; 
who,  though  they  be  not  in  circumstances  of  literal  poverty, 
yet,  from  one  cause  or  another,  feel  themselves  afflicted, 
bereaved,  and  desolate.  Sorrowing,  weeping  ones,  meet 
you  all  along  this  vale  of  tears.  On  every  hand  are  they 
who  need  the  comforting  smile  of  benevolence.  Nor  does 
the  city,  with  all  its  riches  and  splendor,  form  any  excep- 
tion to  this  remark.  Abundance  of  wealth,  prosperity, 
and  joy,  is  in  the  city — yet  there,  too,  are  poverty,  suffer- 
ing, and  tears.  If  affluence  is  there,  so  are  destitution  and 
rags.  If  the  palaces  of  opulence  are  around  you,  so,  also, 
are  the  hovels  of  want.  If  fullness  and  luxury  are  there, 
so  are  desolation  and  hunger.  If  a  thousand  blooming 
and  healthy  countenances  meet  you  every  day  along  the 
streets,  another  multitude  are  laid  away  in  the  chambers 
of  sickness — many  of  them  never  to  be  well  again.  If 
the  song  of  mirth  and  gayety  swells  daily  amid  those 
dwellings,  the  cries  and  sobbings  of  grief  mingle  with  the 
13* 


298  CHABITY  TO  THE  FOOK.  [SJER, 

sound.  If  charming  hopes  are  there,  the  shadows  of  dark- 
ness and  despair  are  gathering  deeply  over  the  prospects 
of  thousands.  Have  you  never  ascended  into  that  gloomy 
garret,  into  which  the  light  of  day  could  scarcely  find  en- 
trance, where  lingered  a  feeble  and  forlorn  widow,  with 
little  children  dependent  upon  her  for  daily  bread ;  one  of 
them,  perhaps,  laid  away  in  a  corner  of  the  room,  sick  and 
weeping;  where  scarcely  a  single  comfort  mingles  itself 
with  the  wretchedness  of  the  scene ;  where  beauty  and 
hope  have  perished ;  where  every  day  is  gloomy,  and  days 
more  gloomy  still  are  in  the  future  ?  Scenes  like  these 
are  around  you,  and  scattered  thickly  along  this  world. 
Not  to  mention  the  myriads  of  paupers  in  this  and  other 
countries ;  other  myriads,  here  and  there,  are  struggling 
in  the  vale  of  poverty  and  suffering,  whose  sentiments  of 
delicacy  and  modesty  have  never  permitted  them  to  apply 
for  either  public  or  private  aid.  They  have  seen  happier 
days :  perhaps  they  were  once  in  easy  circumstances,  and 
mingled  in  elevated  circles,  and  the  associations  of  their 
earlier  years  were  those  of  comfort  and  elegance  ;  but  they 
have  passed  away  from  those  sunny  bowers — a  mysterious 
providence  has  reversed  their  allotment :  the  brilliancy  of 
their  early  prospects  has  become  eclipsed,  and  to  former 
days  of  peaceful  sunshine  has  succeeded  a  night  cheerless 
and  starless,  beyond  which  no  morning  arises  save  that 
of  eternity. 

Such  is  the  truth  throughout  this  inhabited  world.  Ours 
is  a  suffering  race.  A  few  of  us  may,  for  a  day  or  two, 
be  partially  exempted  ;  yet  we,  too,  in  one  form  or  another, 
are  to  meet  suffering,  terrible  suffering.  Truly  "  the  light 
is  sweet,  and  a  pleasant  thing  it  is  for  the  eyes  to  behold 
the  sun  ;  but  if  a  man  live  many  years  and  rejoice  in  them 
all,  yet  let  him  remember  the  days  of  darkness,  for  they 
shall  be  many."  Griefs  and  woes,  to  a  greater  or  less  ex- 
tent, await  us  all;  while  thousands  and  thousands  are 
already  encountering  the  tempest.  Were  the  more  pros- 
perous and  happy  so  disposed,  it  is  in  their  power  greatly 
to  mitigate  the  sorrows  of  the  poor  and  the  unfortunate. 
We  need  a  religion,  therefore,  whose  direct  influence  will 
be  to  open  our  hearts,  and  quicken  us  to  feel  for  the  wants 
and  sufferings  of  our  fellows.  We  are  selfish:  some 
divine  influence  is  requisite  to  turn  away  our  eyes  from 


XX.]  CHARITY   TO   THE  POOK.  299 

self  to  contemplate  the  situation  of  others.  We  are  proud : 
there  is  need  that  an  influence  should  come  upon  us,  help- 
ing us  to  recognize  ourselves  as  part  of  a  lost,  ruined,  and 
unhappy  race,  and  aiding  us  to  contemplate  the  suffering 
ones  of  earth  as  bone  of  our  bone,  and  flesh  of  our  flesh. 
We  are  cold  and  hard  of  heart :  we  need  such  a  renewal 
as  shall  animate  our  sympathies,  and  teach  us  to  make  the 
sorrows  of  others,  in  some  sense,  our  own,  and  to  weep 
with  them  that  weep.  We  incline  to  covetousness  :  our 
eyes  need  to  be  opened  that  we  may  see  the  proper  use 
of  riches — that  "  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive," 
and  that  the  prayers  of  the  poor  are  a  more  valuable  in- 
heritance than  thousands  of  gold  and  silver.  We  need  to 
be  impressed  that  we  are  to  act  as  stewards  of  God — as 
almoners  of  his  bounty :  that  all  things  are  his — the  silver, 
and  the  gold,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills ;  and 
that  we  are  not  to  withhold  good  from  our  neighbor,  when 
it  is  in  the  power  of  our  hands  to  do  it. 

And  such,  precisely  such,  are  the  instructions  and  the  spirit 
of  our  blessed  Christianity.  It  is  fit  that  men,  passing  to- 
gether through  a  suffering  world  to  the  same  eternity, 
should  help  and  comfort  each  other ;  and  hence  the  law  of 
Christ  is,  that  ye  bear  each  other's  burdens.  Moreover, 
it  is  ordained  that  he  that  watereth  shall  be  watered  him- 
self— and  he  that  scattereth  shall  increase — and  he  that  sow- 
eth  largely  shall  reap  also  largely.  It  is  as  appropriate,  as 
it  is  momentous  and  startling,  that  our  admission  to  heaven 
at  the  day  of  judgment  will  be  predicated  upon  our  evan- 
gelical charity.  If  so,  what,  in  the  day  of  eternity,  will  be- 
come of  that  professed  Christian  who  came  and  looked 
upon  wounded,  suffering  ones — then  passed  by  on  the  other 
side ! 

We  submit,  thirdly,  that  in  the  last  great  reckoning 
Christ  will  recognize  these  acts  of  charity  and  mercy  per- 
formed toward  his  suffering  poor,  as  done  to  himself. 

Christ  was  pleased  to  select  the  destitute  and  suffering 
as  more  especially  his  representatives  upon  earth.  In  his 
sojourn  here,  the  Son  of  man  was  himself  poor.  He  who 
possessed  all  things  emptied  himself  of  all,  that  he  might 
enrich  a  world.  He  claimed  no  house,  nor  land,  nor  place 
of  repose.  The  foxes  and  birds  were  richer  than  he ;  for 
while  they  had  their  abodes,  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his 


300  CHARITY  TO  THE  POOR.  [SER. 

head.  He  passed  from  province  to  province,  and  from  city 
to  city,  and  as  he  came,  there  was  no  sign  of  riches.  He 
rode  not  in  a  chariot,  attended  by  a  splendid  retinue.  He 
came  not  with  observation :  he  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and 
acquainted  with  grief:  he  was  despised  and  rejected  of 
men.  The  purest  and  holiest  personage  that  ever  mingled 
with  mankind,  he  was,  neverthess,  destitute,  and  a  com- 
panion and  guest  of  the  poor.  Should  the  Saviour  of  men 
come  into  one  of  our  cities,  as  he  now  and  then  visited 
Jerusalem,  his  personal  appearance  and  his  circumstances 
would  harmonize  with  the  poor  of  that  city,  rather  than 
with  the  rich.  His  sympathies  would  be  with  the  former, 
rather  than  with  the  latter  ;  while,  in  selecting  his  lodging- 
place,  he  would  probably  enter  the  doors  of  some  obscure 
family,  whose  names  are  scarcely  known  here,  but  are 
written  and  known  in  heaven.  In  preaching,  too,  it  would 
be  to  the  poor ;  while  the  men  and  women  who  move  amid 
affluence  and  pride,  and  ride  on  the  wheels  of  splendor, 
and  revel  in  all  the  delights  which  this  world  presents, 
these  would  be  absent.  Christ  would  not  be  seen,  nor 
would  his  voice  be  heard,  throughout  all  that  brilliant  cir- 
cle.    He  would  not  be  welcome  there. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  never  appear  again  on  earth, 
as  when  he  came  to  save  lost  men.  Yet  might  that  be — 
might  he  once  more  visit  this  world  as  a  man  of  sorrows, 
destitute  and  having  not  where  to  lay  his  head ;  might  he 
be  in  our  immediate  vicinity — to  linger  with  us  for  a  few 
days,  and  were  it  true  that  any  gifts  and  hospitalities  of 
ours  might  be  acceptable  to  him,  and  afford  him  consola- 
tion and  comfort ;  might  some  woman  of  Samaria  be  privi- 
leged to  give  him  to  drink  a  cup  of  cold  water ;  and  some 
penitent  Mary  be  permitted  to  bathe  his  feet  with  her 
tears,  and  wipe  them  with  the  hairs  of  her  head  ;  and  some 
eager  Zaccheus,  amid  the  crowd,  might  catch  his  eye,  and 
hear  him  say,  "  Come  down,  for  to-day  I  must  abide  at  thy 
house ; "  and  some  Martha  should  have  the  privilege  of 
preparing  the  table  where  Christ  was  to  be  the  guest ;  and 
some  Dorcas  should  be  permitted  to  make  with  her  own 
hands  a  garment  for  the  comfort  of  his  sacred  person  :  were 
privileges  like  these  to  become  ours,  O!  who  would  not 
prize  them  above  very  many  good  things  which  this  world 
presents  ?     Who  would  not  submit  to  many  sacrifices  to 


XX.]  ,  CHARITY  TO  THE  POOR.  301 

be  thus  honored?  Who  would  not  forego  the  choicest  re- 
past, if  that  repast  might  go  to  refresh  the  hungry  and 
thirsty  Jesus  ?  "Who  would  not  part  with  his  goodliest, 
warmest  garment,  might  it  enwrap  his  chilled  and  trem- 
bling limbs  ?  Who  would  not  thread  many  a  cold  street 
of  the  great  city,  to  find  the  house  and  the  chamber  where 
he  might  be  lying  in  sickness  ?  Who  would  not  fly  to  the 
deepest,  darkest  cell,  where  Jesus  might  be  imprisoned  ? 
Nay,  who  would  not  cross  the  seas,  and  traverse  mountains 
and  deserts,  that  they  might  perform  these  ministries  to 
their  afflicted,  suffering  Saviour  ?  Whose  heart  would  not 
yearn  toward  him  with  emotions  unutterable  ?  And  who, 
in  their  longing,  would  not  weep  for  the  privilege  of  fly- 
ing to  the  presence  of  that  sorrowing  one,  and  of  being 
the  first,  and  surest,  and  strongest,  to  bring  the  desired 
relief? 

Charming  vision !  But  this  "Man  of  sorrows"  is  no 
longer  here.  He  passed  away,  one  day,  and  a  cloud  re- 
ceived him  from  mortal  sight.  He  has  retired  to  the 
heavens,  and  taken  his  place  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and 
will  be  there  till  his  coming  to  judge  the  world  in  right- 
eousness. The  heavenly  privilege  of  entertaining  him 
personally  belongs  no  longer  to  men.  But  what  then  ? 
He  is  gone,  it  is  true,  but  he  has  left  his  represeyitatives. 
Departing  heavenward,  he  proclaimed  to  those  he  left  be- 
hind, "  The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you.  Forget  them 
not.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.  And 
when  I  come  again  in  my  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels 
with  me,  I  will  welcome  you  to  my  everlasting  kingdom — 
announcing  to  the  world  that  inasmuch  as  ye  blessed  and 
comforted  the  weakest,  poorest  of  my  brethren,  ye  did  it 
unto  me." 

It  is  not  for  me,  as  it  was  once  for  Zaccheus,  to  open 
the  doors  of  my  house  for  the  admission  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  not  for  me  to  see  him  sit  at  my  table,  and  to 
tender  to  him  the  very  highest  and  best  hospitalities  of 
w^hich  I  am  capable ;  but  it  is  my  privilege  to  do  that 
which  will  be  just  as  acceptable  to  him — which  he  will  re- 
ceive precisely  as  though  it  were  done  to  him  personally — 
for  which  he  will  love  me  just  as  fully  and  freely — and 
for  which  he  will  just  as  certainly  and  liberally  reward  me 
with  his  presence  and  smiles  for  ever  and  ever.     If  I  help 


302  CHARITY  TO    THE  POOR.  [SER. 

his  poor  and  suffering  children,  he  will  receive  it  as  per- 
formed for  himself,  were  he  in  those  identical  sufferings. 
Amazing  motive  this  to  inspire  us  to  benevolence  !  It 
banishes  all  ideas  of  sacrifice.  It  transforms  our  alms- 
giving into  a  privilege  unspeakably  desirable.  Under 
its  influence  we  begin  to  inquire.  Where  are  the  poor? 
Lead  us  quickly  to  some  object  of  pity  and  suffering,  that 
we  may  lavish  upon  him  our  charities.  We  who  never 
asked  for  riches  before,  now  begin  to  wish  ourselves  in 
possession  of  thousands,  that  we  might  more  widely  scatter 
comforts  to  the  destitute ;  for  of  such  beneficence  Christ 
will  say,  "  Ye  did  it  unto  me."  Yet  let  the  benevolent 
poor  consider  the  widow  and  her  two  mites,  and  forget  not 
that  Christ  only  requires  according  to  what  we  have,  and 
not  according  to  what  we  have  not. 

My  hearers,  therefore,  will  remember  the  poor.  You 
will  remember  them  especially  in  this  inclement  season, 
when  often 

"  Along  the  woods — along  the  moorish  fens, 
Sighs  the  sad  genius  of  the  coming  storm." 

Garments,  good  and  warm,  I  will  hope,  shall  defend  you 
whenever  you  meet  the  chilling  blasts  of  this  cold  winter. 
At  what  time  the  fierce  north  wind  shall  sweep  along  the 
streets,  or  the  wild  spirit  of  the  storm  shall  howl  around 
these  dwellings,  you  shall  be  safely  hidden  from  the  tem- 
pest ;  while  the  fire  fair  blazing  shall  pour  forth  for  you 
its  genial  warmth.  When  you  shall  be  hungry,  your 
heavenly  Father  will  spread  for  you  the  comfortable 
board,  and  you  shall  partake  and  rejoice.  Most  of  you 
may  not  be  rich,  yet  you  will  not  be  doomed  to  suffer. 
You  will  be  warmed  and  fed.  Various  little  comforts  will 
meet  you  here  and  there,  and  many  a  voice  of  thanks- 
giving, and  many  a  smile  of  delight,  will  cheer  your 
abodes,  while  these  wintry  months  shall  roll  away.  And 
when  it  is  all  cheerful  within  your  doors,  and  your  little 
family  circles  are  all  well  and  happy  there,  your  thoughts 
will  sometimes  wander  away  from  that  group.  There  will 
be  times  when  you  will  draw  toward  the  lattice,  and  look 
out  into  the  cold  dark  storm  ;  and  as  you  look,  you  will 
think  of  the  poor ;  and  if  there  shall  tlien  come  gliding 
along,  the  remembrance  that  your  hand  had  been  opened 


XX.]  CHARITY  TO  THE  POOR.  303 

for  their  relief  and  comfort,  that  remembrance  will  be 
sweet  and  happy. 

Father !  as  during  this  stern  winter  you  shall  rejoice  at 
seeing  your  beloved  children  comfortably  clad,  that  joy 
shall  be  elevated  and  enhanced,  if  accompanied  by  the  re- 
membrance that  you  have  made  comfortable  some  poor 
little  child,  that,  but  for  your  charity,  would  have  suffered 
and  wept. 

Christian  lady !  as  within  the  warm  parlor,  along  some 
one  of  these  wintry  nights,  you  glance  at  your  husband 
and  children,  and  feel  that  with  yourself  and  them  all  is 
peaceful  and  well ;  your  peace  shall  flow  more  full  and  free 
if,  in  that  hour,  you  may  remember  to  have  visited  the  lone 
widow,  and  helped,  by  your  beneficence  and  goodness,  to 
cheer  her  in  her  sadness. 

Son  or  daughter !  while  along  the  dreary  winter  you 
may  see  your  dear  father  and  mother  safe  sheltered  from 
the  cold,  it  shall  not  disturb  the  pleasure  of  that  sight  to 
recollect  that  you  have  thrown  the  warm  garment  over  the 
withered  and  trembling  form  of  some  "  poor  old  man,"  and 
aided  to  smooth  his  pathway  to  the  tomb. 

Christian !  if  amid  these  coming  days  and  nights  some 
dark  cloud  shall  come  over  your  prospects — and  some 
grief,  bitter  and  unexpected,  shall  tear  and  crush  your 
heart — and  you  shall  sigh  and  weep  in  secret  places,  it 
shall  be  a  soothing  balm  to  your  wounded  spirit,  if  you  may 
remember  that  the  prayers  of  the  poor  carry  up  your 
name  every  day  to  God  ;  and  you  shall  now  and  then  listen 
to  soft  whisperings  coming  as  from  the  breath  of  angels, 
saying,  "  Blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor :  the 
Lord  will  deliver  him  in  time  of  trouble." 

"  The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you."  Why  ?  Because 
"it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  They  are 
always  with  you.  Why  ?  That  ye  may  be  blessed  ;  for 
they  cannot  recompense  you.  Ye  shall  be  recompensed 
at  the  resurrection  of  the  just. 

"  He  spake,  and  my  poor  name  he  named  5 
Of  me  thou  hast  not  been  ashamed ; 
These  deeds  shall  thy  memorial  be, 
Fear  not,  thou  didst  it  unto  me.'" 


304  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  [SER 

SERMON   XXI. 

The  Existence  of  God. 

BY  REV.  NELSON  ROUNDS,  A.  M., 

EDITOR   OF   THE   NORTHERN   CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE. 

"  For  the  invisible  things  of  Him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are 
clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  his 
eternal  power  and  Godhead,  so  that  they  are  without  excuse." — 
Rom.  i,  20. 

This  text  will  receive  some  light  by  the  following  trans- 
position :  "  For  the  invisible  things  of  Him,  that  is,  his 
eternal  power  and  Godhead,  are  clearly  seen,  or  per- 
ceived from,  or  ever  since,  the  creation  of  the  world,  being 
understood,  or  learned,  by  the  things  that  are  made." 

Not  that  the  idea  of  the  divine  existence  is  innate  in 
man,  nor  that  it  is  demonstrable  by  human  reason  alone, 
for  facts  are  opposed  to  this.  But  the  idea  once  suggested 
to  the  mind,  as  it  has  been  among  nearly  the  whole  human 
family,  by  revelation  or  tradition,  is  capable  of  obvious, 
irresistible  proof  from  the  works  of  nature. 

The  nature  of  the  argument  is  a  posteriori :  or  we  rea- 
son from  effect  to  cause. 

I.  Grounds  of  belief  in  the  existence  of  god. 

1.  God  reveals  himself  by  the  works  of  nature.  Nature 
is  an  effect:  it  must  have  had  a  cause.  That  cause  is 
God. 

More  particularly :  First.  Every  effect  must  have  a 
cause.*  You  see  the  picture  of  a  flower  or  a  bird,  and 
you  ask  at  once.  Who  drew  it  ?  You  behold  the  statue  of  a 
man,  perfect  in  form  and  feature,  and  you  inquire.  Who  was 

*  To  show  how  deeply  this  first  principle  of  reasoning  is  ingrafted 
in  the  original  constitution  of  the  mind,  we  would  relate  the  follow- 
ing simple  circumstance :  We  were  once  traveling  with  our  little 
girl,  (then  but  five  or  six  years  old,)  in  a  carriage,  and  we  were  just 
passing  a  saw-mill  not  far  from  the  road.  The  wheel  and  entire  ma- 
chinery were  beneath,  and  entirely  excluded  from  view.  The  pond 
of  water  was  spread  out  in  our  view,  and  the  saw  was  playing  briskly 
up  and  down  through  the  log.  The  little  girl  spoke  out  with  great 
animation,  and  said,  "  Pa,  see  there !  there  is  a  man  down  in  that  wa- 
ter a  sawing." 


XXL]  THE  EXISTENCE   OF  GOD.  305 

the  sculptor  ?  You  behold  an  orrery,  exhibiting  in  a  beau- 
tiful manner  the  relative  magnitudes,  distances,  and  mo- 
tions of  the  planets,  and  you  commence  directly  to  admire 
the  skill  of  the  inventor. 

But  how  much  more  is  a  real  flower,  bird,  man,  or  sys- 
tem of  planets,  the  proof  of  a  Creator  !  Who  can  survey 
a  real  flower,  exhibiting  its  beauteous  colors ;  a  living  bird, 
flitting  through  the  air  or  singing  from  its  branch ;  a  living 
man,  walking  with  countenance  erect,  intelligence  beaming 
from  his  eye,  and  wisdom  dropping  from  his  lips,  and  not 
refer  their  existence  to  God  ?  Who  can  contemplate  the 
solar  system  without  such  a  conclusion  ?  Ascend,  in  im- 
agination, till  you  have  reached  a  point  of  observation 
from  whence  you  can  comprehend  its  length  and  breadth 
at  a  glance.  The  sun,  larger  than  a  million  earths,  glow- 
ing in  the  centre — all  the  planets,  primary  and  secondary, 
revolving  in  their  proper  spheres,  from  Mercury,  winging 
his  rapid  circuit  almost  within  the  borders  of  the  solar 
blaze,  to  distant  Herschel,  wheeling  his  solitary  rounds,  in 
far-off  fields  of  space,  and  measuring  out,  with  giant  tread, 
his  years  of  centuries  !  See  them  all  moving  in  exact 
harmony,  and  with  the  regularity  of  the  most  perfect  time- 
piece, and  you  cannot  but  acknowledge,  that  the  Hand  which 
created  them  from  nothing,  balances  them  in  empty  space, 
and  points  them  in  the  paths  they  travel,  must  be  al- 
mighty. 

Secondly.  The  same  conviction  is  only  confirmed  when, 
upon  a  closer  view,  you  observe  in  these  several  instances 
the  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end. 

The  plant  is  designed  to  be  stationary,  and  accordingly 
its  roots  are  firmly  fixed  in  the  earth.  The  bird  was  de- 
signed for  locomotion,  and  hence  in  its  wings  we  find  a 
perfect  apparatus  for  transporting  it  from  place  to  place. 
Man  was  intended  to  control  and  govern  all  creatures  for 
his  own  happiness,  and  accordingly  he  is  endowed  with  an 
understanding  that  renders  him  capable  of  doing  so :  the 
human  understanding !  the  most  wonderful  of  the  works 
of  nature,  and  whose  astonishing  capacities  cannot  possibly 
be  accounted  for,  but  upon  the  ground  of  the  existence  of 
an  Infinite  Mind.  The  earth  and  the  other  planets  were  to 
be  warmed  and  lighted,  and  the  effectual  manner  in  which 
these  results  are  produced  by  the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun 


306  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  [SER. 

is  matter  of  gratitude  with  us  all.  Vegetation  was  to  be 
sustained,  and  hence  the  roots  of  plants  and  trees  are  so 
many  mouths,  to  extract  nourishment  from  the  soil,  while 
their  leaves  are  for  lungs,  to  inhale  from  the  atmosphere 
those  gases  that  are  congenial,  and  to  exhale  those  that  are 
unwholesome. 

Vegetation  was  to  be  propagated.  And  hence  every 
plant  is  made  to  produce  its  own  seeds.  And  in  the  work 
of  sowing  them,  winds,  waves,  and  animals,  are  all  made 
to  do  their  part.  Seeds  of  fruit,  and  those  that  are  farina- 
ceous, are  transported  voluntarily  by  men  and  animals  ; 
those  that  are  inclosed  in  burrs,  by  involuntary  agents. 
Some  kinds  are  furnished  with  wings,  others  with  minia- 
ture balloons,  and  are  thus  transported  from  land  to  land. 
The  hard  shells  of  others  are  so  many  little  ships,  air  and 
water  tight,  by  which  the  tiny  cargo  has  been  transported 
across  the  Atlantic  without  injury. 

The  preservation  and  propagation  of  the  animal  king- 
dom, were  it  proper  here  to  enter  into  the  detail,  would 
furnish  still  more  striking  instances  of  the  adaptation  of 
means  to  an  end.  And  now  can  all  these  cases  of  design 
be  accounted  for  without  a  Designer  ?  We  anticipate  your 
answer. 

But  the  construction  and  furnishing  of  this  world  were 
intended  mainly  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  human  fa- 
mily, and  how  admirably  is  this  object  accomplished  !  Do 
our  lungs  need  air  ?  Nothing  is  so  free.  Do  we  need  food 
to  satisfy  our  hunger  ?  It  springs  up  all  around  us.  Do 
we  require  water  to  slake  our  thirst  ?  Its  limpid  currents 
murmur  at  our  feet.  Do  we  want  clothing  to  defend  us 
against  the  changes  of  the  seasons  ?  It  grows  in  our 
fields,  or  is  brought  to  our  doors  upon  the  backs  of  the 
bleating  flocks. 

Again,  the  qualities  of  the  different  objects  around  us 
are  adapted  to  promote  our  pleasure  or  profit.  We  in- 
stance only  two  ;  sound  and  color.  The  noise  of  thunder, 
the  roar  of  the  cataract,  the  howl  of  wild  beasts,  the  rattle 
of  the  serpents,  warn  us  of  danger.  The  murmuring  of 
streams,  the  hum  of  insects,  the  warbling  of  the  feathered 
songsters,  furnish  us  pleasure.  The  articulate  sounds  of 
the  human  voice  afford  pre-eminently  both  pleasure  and 
profit.   And  do  not  these  things  bespeak  a  God  ?    He  that 


XXX.]  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  807 

imparted  musical  tones  to  the  winds  and  waves,  and  to  that 
sweetest  instrument  in  nature,  the  cultivated  human  voice, 
can  he  not  distinguish  sounds  ?  He  that  planted  the  ear, 
can  he  not  hear  ? 

Why  is  the  color  of  all  the  objects  in  nature  mild  rather 
than  glaring?  Because  more  grateful  to  our  organs  of 
vision.  In  that  season  of  the  year  when  the  sun's  rays 
are  most  intense  the  earth  reflects  a  delightful  green; 
whereas  the  dazzling  brightness  of  snow  is  reserved  to  that 
period  when  the  sun's  appearance  above  the  horizon  is 
briefest,  his  beams  most  oblique,  and  most  frequently  shut 
from  us  entirely  by  clouds. 

How  beautiful  the  sky  !  not  so  by  chance.  Had  the  at- 
mosphere reflected  all  the  rays  of  light,  it  would  have 
blinded  us  by  its  excessive  brilliancy.  Had  it  reflected 
none,  it  would  have  saddened  us  by  its  constant  midnight 
gloom.  But,  reflecting  only  the  blue  rays,  it  forms  an  ob- 
ject which  by  day  is  pleasing  to  the  eye,  and  by  night, 
when  sprinkled  with  stars,  or  cheered  by  the  radiance  of 
the  smiling  moon,  is  perfectly  enchanting. 

Why  is  the  sun,  iit  his  risings  and  settings,  shorn  of 
half  those  fiery  beams  that  flash  from  his  mid-day  chariot  ? 
Is  it  not  that  we  may  the  better  enjoy  the  charms  of 
the  morning  and  the  evening  hour  ? 

And  are  all  these  effects  without  an  intelligent  cause  ? 
He  that  imparted  beauty  to  the  landscape,  and  gave  their 
exquisite  tints  to  the  lily  and  the  rainbow,  can  he  not  re- 
cognize colors  ?     He  that  formed  the  eye,  can  he  not  see  ? 

2.  God  is  seen  in  providence  :  in  providence,  which  con- 
nects vicious  habits  with  disease,  disgrace,  and  poverty,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  drunkard ;  and  a  virtuous  life  with 
health,  wealth,  and  honor,  as  in  the  instance  of  those  who 
habitually  abstain  from  everything  that  intoxicates; — in 
providence,  which  leads  so  certainly  to  the  detection  and 
punishment  of  crime,  and  which  pursues  every  criminal 
with  the  scorpion  lash  of  self-condemnation,  and  otherwise 
couples  affliction  with  vice  suflJciently  to  show  its  heinous- 
ness,  and  warn  the  sinner  of  those  awful  retributions  of 
eternity,  of  which  his  present  stripes  are  only  the  prelude. 

God  is  seen  in  providence  as  exerted  in  favor  of  that 
best  and  purest  system  of  morals,  the  Christian  religion. 
W^hen  we  read  the  predictions  of  Israel's  prophets,  uttered 


308  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  [SEB. 

thousands  of  years  before  their  fulfillment,  and  observe 
how  exactly  they  were  verified,  must  we  not  conclude  they 
were  inspired  by  a  Being  who  "  was,  and  is,  and  is  to 
come ;"  and  unto  whom  "  all  his  works  were  known  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  ?" 

Granting  the  historic  facts  of  Christ's  advent  and  mira- 
cles— facts  which  never  have  been  and  never  can  be  dis- 
proved— must  not  all  exclaim  as  did  Nicodemus,  "  Rabbi ! 
we  know  thou  art  a  teacher  sent  from  God ;  for  no  man 
can  do  these  miracles  except  God  be  with  him  ?" 

Must  not  that  have  been  an  almighty  Agent,  who  could 
defeat  the  numerous  combined  and  potent  enemies  that 
have  risen  up  from  time  to  time  against  Christianity ;  and 
who  could  secure  it  those  glorious  triumphs  which  all  along 
have  marked  its  progress  ?  Surely  every  enlightened, 
candid  observer  of  these  events,  must  exclaim,  "  This  is  the 
Lord's  doings,  and  it  is  marvelous  in  our  eyes." 

And,  finally,  the  great  acknowledged  fact  that  the  chief 
vicissitudes  which  have  transpired  upon  earth,  the  changes 
of  political  dynasties,  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations,  have 
conspired  and  are  conspiring  to  one  grand  momentous  re- 
sult— the  final  downfall  of  wickedness  and  error,  and  the 
universal  diffusion  and  establishment  of  the  religion  of  the 
Bible  in  the  world;  does  not  this  fact  proclaim  as  with 
the  voice  of  sevenfold  thunder,  that  there  is  a  God  who  is 
the  Author  of  the  Bible,  the  Arbiter  of  nations,  and  the 
moral  Governor  of  the  universe  ? 

3.  God  reveals  himself  in  the  Scriptures  by  language. 
Here  we  listen  to  his  voice.  Here  we  have  the  portraiture 
of  his  moral  character,  and  behold  as  clearly,  perhaps,  as 
is  possible  in  this  life,  the  brightness  of  his  glory  and  the 
express  image  of  his  person :  and  that  voice  has  an  em- 
phasis so  commanding,  and  yet  so  simple  and  heavenly, 
and  that  character  is  so  transcendently  excellent  in  its 
several  features,  and  so  supremely  grand  and  imposing  in 
its  united  effect,  that  all,  who  will  look  and  Hsten,  must 
exclaim,  not  in  the  doubtful  words  of  the  wondering 
jEneas : 

"  Haud  tibi  vultus 
Mortalis,  nee  vox  hominem  sonat," 

but  in  the  language  of  a  convinced  and  humbled  Thomas, 
"  My  Lord  and  my  God !" 


XXI.J  THE   EXISTENCE   OF   GOD.  309 

4.  Finally,  God  reveals  himself  to  the  soul  by  his  Spirit. 
Does  a  man  commit  transgression  ?  His  conscience  tells 
him  that  there  is  a  God,  whose  laws  he  has  violated ;  a 
God  who  has  taken  cognizance  of  the  sin,  a  God  who  will 
bring  him  to  an  account  for  it  in  the  day  of  wrath  and 
revelation  of  his  righteous  judgment. 

Are  we  faithful  and  obedient?  Conscience  approves. 
God  speaks  through  that  faculty,  and  declares  not  only  his 
existence  but  his  approbation.  We  feel  that  there  is  a 
God.  Our  souls  are  filled  with  the  spirit  of  glory  and  of 
God.  We  experience  the  fulfillment  of  Christ's  promise  : 
"  He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and  keepeth  them,  he 
it  is  that  loveth  me  :  and  he  that  loveth  me,  shall  be  loved 
of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love  him  and  will  manifest  myself  to 
him."  0  Lord  God,  give  us  this  precious  evidence  of  thy 
existence  to-day !    And  may  we  enjoy  it  for  evermore ! 

Having  now  shown  the  truth  of  God's  existence,  by  his 
works  and  his  word,  by  the  teachings  of  his  providence 
and  his  Spirit — proofs  abundantly  sufficient  to  satisfy  all 
candid  minds — we  proceed  to  some 

n.  Improvement. 

This  doctrine  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  religious  truth. 
This  established,  and  the  most  important  inferences 
follow : — 

1.  To  the  impenitent  hearer.  If  there  is  a  God,  he  is 
your  Creator,  Preserver,  and  Redeemer ;  and  you  are  un- 
der infinite  obligations  to  serve  and  obey  him.  If  there  is 
a  God,  Christianity  is  true ;  it  has  been  instituted  by  his 
Son,  fostered  by  his  providence,  and  propagated  by  his 
power.  God  is  all  around  you  ;  holds  the  breath  of  your 
nostrils  in  his  hands ;  knows  your  wicked  hearts  and  lives, 
and  holds  you  accountable  for  them.  In  your  sins  you  are 
not  safe  one  hour.  The  judgment-day  is  rolling  around. 
Awful  eternity  is  just  at  hand,  and  you  are  urged  to  re- 
pent and  seek  the  favor  of  God  this  moment,  by  motives 
high  as  heaven,  deep  as  hell,  and  lasting  as  infinite 
duration. 

2.  To  Christians  this  doctrine  is  the  source  of  great  con- 
solation. If  there  is  a  God,  the  Christian's  hopes  are  all 
safe ;  death  loses  its  terror ;  the  grave  its  gloom ;  and  the 
bright  visions  of  heavenly  bliss  are  a  glorious  reality.  This 
consolation  is  perpetual :    for  the  evidence  of  the  great 


310  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  [SER. 

truth  of  the  divine  existence  pours  in  from  every  side. 
We  have  touched  upon  a  few  of  the  proofs  :  the  number 
that  might  be  brought  is  infinite.     That  there  is  a  God, 

"  All  nature  cries  aloud  through  all  her  works," 

"  The  invisible  things  of  Him  from  the  creation  of  the 
world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that 
are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead."  We 
hear  his  voice  in  the  whispering  breeze,  the  gurgling  foun- 
tain, in  the  roaring  ocean,  and  in  the  bellowing  storm. 
Every  grain  of  sand  is  a  memento  of  his  presence ;  every 
spire  of  grass  points  to  his  abode ;  every  fluttering  leaf 
waves  him  reverence.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  matter 
in  the  broad  earth,  from  the  crude  clay  lump  that  sleeps 
in  its  bosom,  to  moving,  breathing,  thinking  man,  who  rules 
its  surface,  but 

"  Shows  the  labor  of  his  hands 

Or  impress  of  his  feet." 

"The  heavens  declare  his  glory,  and  the  firmament 
showeth  forth  his  handy  work."  Every  star  reflects  his 
brightness ;  every  constellation  spells  his  name.  The 
clouds  are  his  chariot,  and  he  rides  upon  the  wings  of  the 
wind.  There  is  not  a  change  in  the  seasons,  nor  an  event 
of  providence  ;  there  is  not  an  object  that  addresses  the 
smell,  or  taste,  or  touch  ;  there  is  not  a  vision  that  passes 
before  the  eye,  nor  a  sound  that  salutes  the  ear,  but  it  tells 
of  a  God — a  God  of  imbounded  wisdom,  goodness,  and 
love.  Our  God,  our  Father,  our  Saviour,  our  Friend. 
Sensible  of  our  constant  dependence  on  him,  let  us  pray 
without  ceasing.  Grateful  for  blessings  received  at  his 
hands,  let  us  in  everything  give  thanks.  Confiding  in  him 
implicitly  for  future  mercies,  let  us  rejoice  evermore ;  yea, 

"  To  Him  whose  temple  is  all  space, 
Whose  altar,  earth,  sea,  skies, 
One  chorus  let  all  beings  raise, 
All  nature's  incense  rise  " 

Let  us  serve  him  faitlifully  in  this  distant  province  of 
his  dominion,  where  he  is  seen,  after  all,  but  "  through  a 
glass  darkly,"  and  soon  he  will  permit  us  to  surround  his 
throne,  and  bask  in  the  smiles  of  his  countenance,  without 
a  dimmino-  veil  between. 


XXI.]  THE  EXISTENCE   OF    GOD.  311 

3.  Finally,  in  view  of  this  subject  how  pitiable  the  case 
of  the  infidel !  How  blind !  Deity  shining  in  everything 
around  him,  and  yet  he  cannot  see  !  How  deaf!  Every- 
thing that  hath  vocality  speaking  His  name,  and  yet  he 
cannot  hear !  Well  do  the  Scriptures  declare  it  is  "  the 
fool  that  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God."  This 
blindness  and  deafness  are  Mdllful.  "  They  hold  the  truth 
in  unrighteousness  :  because  that  which  may  be  known  of 
God  is  manifest  among  them,  for  God  hath  showed  it  unto 
them.  For  the  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation 
of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the 
things  that  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead." 
How  ungrateful  is  the  infidel !  He  receives  his  all  from 
the  hand  of  God,  and  yet  will  not  even  acknowledge  his 
existence,  but  gives  the  honor  of  all  his  blessings  to  an- 
other. How  unhappy  is  the  infidel !  Everything  around 
him  is  a  mystery,  himself  a  mystery — his  origin,  the  ob- 
ject of  his  existence,  his  destiny,  all  involved  in  utter 
darkness.  How  low  must  be  his  esteem  of  himself  and  of 
his  fellows  !  A  slight  difference  of  organic  structure  is  all 
that  distinguishes  him  from  the  reptile  that  crawls  at  his 
feet.  Both  live  by  chance,  both  die  by  chance  ;  both  have 
one  end.  How  chilling  his  prospects  of  futurity  !  As  age 
creeps  on,  or  sickness  wastes,  he  feels  he  is  approaching — 
what?  the  shoreless,  waveless,  bottomless,  gulf  of  annihi- 
lation. He  feels  that  when  he  loses  his  life,  he  loses  his 
all :  when  he  thinks  of  the  cold,  damp  grave,  the  loathsome 
decay,  and  the  banqueting  worm,  there  is  no  redeeming 
thought !  no  trust  in  a  God  !  no  gleam  of  immortality  ! 
no  bright  hope  of  a  resurrection  morn  !  no  sweet  foretaste 
of  that  auspicious  hour  when  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  shall  come  from  heaven,  and  change  this  vile  body, 
and  fashion  it  according  to  his  own  glorious  body,  and 
when  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  shall  return  to  Zion  with 
songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads ! 

No !  to  the  infidel  the  future  is  all  dreary  and  dreadful. 
This  world  is  his  all  of  good,  and  yet  he  perceives  it  every 
moment  receding.  Death  comprises  the  sum  total  of  evil, 
and  yet  he  sees  it  constantly  approaching,  and  liable  to 
pounce  upon  him  in  his  securest  moment.  Yet  dark  and 
dreadful  as  appears  the  future  to  the  infidel,  the  reality 
will  infinitely  exceed  his  imaginings.     He  calls  death  an 


312         THE  REIGN   OF  GOD  A  SOURCE   OF  JOY.  [SER. 

eternal  sleep,  but  he  will  find  it  a  scene  of  wasting  vigils, 
a  scene  of  endless  wakefulness  and  wailing.  Life  has 
been  to  him  the  period  of  sleep.  Death  alone  has  opened 
his  eyes.  Does  he  sometimes  speak  of  death  as  a  leap  in 
the  dark  ?  It  will,  indeed,  be  an  awful  leap,  from  the  pre- 
cipice of  infidelity  into  the  dark  abyss  of  perdition  !  That 
consciousness  which  he  expected  would  leave  him,  clings 
strangely  to  him.  That  reason  which  he  had  resolved  into 
a  mere  result  of  physical  organization,  or  a  property  of 
matter,  now  asserts  its  prerogatives,  and  when  it  is  too 
late  to  repent,  teaches  him  the  folly  and  sinfulness  of  his 
course,  and  the  justice  of  his  fearful  doom.  The  existence 
of  a  God  he  no  longer  doubts,  but  shudders  at  the  awful 
reality  of  that  scripture  which  he  once  despised :  "  Though 
I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold  thou  art  there  !"  With  the 
dying  Altamont  he  must  say,  as  for  a  God,  "  Nothing  less 
than  an  almighty  Being  could  inflict  what  I  now  feel !" 
Is  there  any  one  infected  with  infidelity  ?  Cast  it  away  as 
you  would  cast  coals  of  fire  from  your  bosom  :  shun  all 
books  and  associates  that  would  bring  you  in  contact  with 
the  poison.  Their  words  are  softer  than  oil,  yet  are  they 
drawn  swords.  "  He  that  believeth  shall  be  saved,  but  he 
that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."     Amen. 


SERMON   XXII. 
The  Reig'n  of  God  a  Source  of  Joy. 

BY  REV.  JOSEPH  CUMMINGS,  A.   M., 

OF  THE   NEW-ENGLAND   CONFERENCE. 

"  The  Lord  reigneth ;  let  the  earth  rejoice ;  let  the  multitude  of 
isles  be  glad  thereof." — Psalm  xcvii,  1. 

It  has  been  remarked,  that  nowhere  in  the  sacred  wri- 
tings is  there  an  attempt  formally  to  prove  the  existence 
of  God.  Their  authors  seem  to  have  regarded  this  as  a 
truth  generally  admitted,  and  in  the  abrupt  manner  of  the 
Psalmist,  they  assert  it,  proclaiming,  "  The  Lord  reigneth;" 
declaring  his  awful  majesty,  his  perfection  in  all  his  attri- 


XXII.]        THE  KEIGN  OF  GOD  A  SOURCE  OF  JOY.  313 

butes,  and  calling  on  the  people  to  worship  him,  to  tremble 
in  his  presence,  and  to  celebrate  his  praises.  To  the  first 
of  the  human  race  God  clearly  manifested  himself ;  and 
the  frequent  interviews  the  chief  men  among  liis  peculiar 
people  had  with  him,  together  with  the  tokens  of  his  power 
and  goodness  so  often  given  them,  were  sufficient  to  remind 
them  constantly  of  his  existence  and  preserving  care.  As 
the  ruler  of  the  universe,  he  has  not  left  his  works  without 
a  witness  of  himself,  for  thereon  may  be  traced,  in  legible 
characters,  in  all  parts  of  creation,  the  nature  of  his  gov- 
ernment. The  light  of  reason  in  man  has  often  been  dark- 
ened ;  and,  sunk  in  sin,  superstition,  and  the  abominations 
of  idolatry,  he  has  appeared  as  though  deprived  of  all  the 
noble  and  elevating  characteristics  given  him  by  his  Crea- 
tor ;  yet,  in  but  few  instances,  have  communities  of  men 
been  found  so  degraded  as  to  have  totally  lost  the  idea  of 
a  Supreme  Being. 

Various  are  the  modes  which  have  been  used  to  prove 
from  nature  the  existence  of  God ;  to  show  that  he  reigns 
over  the  universe,  possessing  all  the  glorious  attributes 
ascribed  to  him  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  These  various 
modes  of  proof  we  do  not  purpose  here  to  consider ;  but 
there  is  one  way  by  Avhich  all  can  demonstrate  for  them- 
selves that  God  exists,  and  that  the  Bible  is  true.  Christ 
has  assured  us  that  "  if  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall 
know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God."  If  any  man, 
then,  will  do  the  things  written  in  the  Bible,  obey  the  in- 
junctions, and  follow  the  examples  therein  given,  he  shall 
know,  shall  have  full  and  satisfactory  proof,  that  God  ex- 
ists, and  that  the  Scriptures  are  a  revelation  of  his  will. 
This  mode  of  proof  is  the  more  valuable,  since  none  have 
ever  tried  it  and  found  it  to  fail.  Those  who  have  most 
fiercely  assailed  the  Scriptures,  and  labored  most  zealously 
to  overthrow  their  claim  to  a  divine  origin,  have  acknow- 
ledged, not  only  that  they  have  not  obeyed  their  dictates, 
but  that  they  never  candidly  and  carefully  examined  them, 
with  a  sincere  desire  for  truth.  Their  wishes,  vices,  pur- 
suits, or  education,  made  them  infidels,  and,  with  opinions 
already  formed,  they  read  the  word  of  God,  only  to  cavil 
at  its  doctrines,  and  to  refute  its  statements. 

But  while  the  existence  of  God  is  generally  acknowledg- 
ed, there  are  many  who  seem  to  deny  the  practical  appli- 
14 


314  THE  REIGN  OF  GOD  A  SOURCE  OF  JOT.  [SEK. 

cation  of  the  great  truth,  "  The  Lord  reigneth."  We  might 
infer  from  their  statements,  that  they  supposed  that  God 
created  the  world,  and  giving  matter  certain  laws  and  ten- 
dencies, swung  it  forth  into  space,  and  left  it  to  take  care 
of  itself;  remaining  himself  a  quiet  spectator  of  the  opera- 
tions that  have  been  going  on  since  creation.  There  are 
many  in  the  present  age,  of  whom  it  may  be  said,  they  do 
not  "  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge."  Works  on 
various  branches  of  science  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
young,  that  exclude  the  agency  of  God  from  the  operations 
and  phenomena  of  nature,  ascribing  all  things  to  secondary 
causes.  They  abound  in  errors  and  inconsistencies.  They 
represent  matter  as  inert,  completely  passive,  wanting 
power;  and  yet  ascribing  to  it  certain  laws  and  tendencies, 
they  make  it  the  source  of  a  mighty,  incomprehensible 
power,  whose  influence  reaches  through  the  illimitable  ex- 
tent of  space,  which  not  only  produces  the  changes  in 
organic  and  inorganic  bodies  around  us,  but  binds  the 
planets  to  their  orbits,  determines  the  relations  of  systems 
of  v.'orlds  to  each  other,  and  regulates  the  harmony  and 
forces  of  the  whole  material  universe.  They  assure  those 
who  may  seek  to  know  the  nature  and  operation  of  these 
"  laws  "  and  "  tendencies,"  that  here  is  a  limit  to  human 
knowledge,  that  beyond  them  we  cannot  go.  But  is  it  not 
absurd  to  call  a  law  the  cause  of  anything?  It  is  some- 
thing conceived  in  the  mind  of  a  rational  being ;  the  term 
denotes  a  mode  of  existence  or  an  order  of  sequence.  It 
has  a  real  and  independent  existence,  as  it  must  have  to  be 
a  cause.  "  It  is  a  perversion  of  language  to  call  a  law  the 
cause  of  anything."  When  it  has  reference  to  any  effect 
or  change,  it  implies  an  agent,  a  power  entirely  distinct 
from  itself;  and  aside  from  this  agent,  it  can  do  nothing; 
is  nothing.  It  would  be  absurd  to  consider  civil  laws  the 
cause  of  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  society,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  power  that  formed  and  enforces  them.  All 
the  statute  books  in  the  land  would  oppose  but  a  small 
obstacle  to  the  robber,  the  murderer,  and  the  betrayer  of 
unsuspecting  innocence,  did  they  not  know  that  laws  are 
but  the  rule  by  which,  in  the  infliction  of  punishment  for 
their  crimes,  a  power  wdll  be  exerted,  which  nothing 
human  can  successfully  resist.  They  fear  not  the  law,  but 
the  power  that  enforces  it.     In  nature  there  is  a  continual 


XXII.]         THE  REIGN  OF  GOB  A  SOURCE  OF  JOY.  315 

change ;  everywhere  we  behold  unconscious  particles  of 
matter  taking  their  several  stations,  and  arranging  them- 
selves in  order,  in  plants  and  animals,  where  the  least 
mistake  would  destroy  the  wdiole :  we  see  a  perfect  adapt- 
ation of  everything  to  its  use  and  place,  and  in  the  various 
complicated  motions  around  us,  a  harmony  and  a  simplicity 
that  cannot  be  improved.  And  shall  we  ascribe  all  these 
wonderful  results  to  laws  and  tendencies,  to  "  election  of 
affinities,"  or  any  modification  of  attraction  ?  Shall  we  not 
rather  remember  that  "  the  Lord  reigneth ;"  that  he  not 
only  created,  but  that  he  upholds,  the  universe,  and  is  con- 
stantly exerting  his  power  for  the  good  of  his  creatures  ? 
The  course  of  nature  is  but  the  manifestation  of  the  power 
of  God,  and  natural  laws,  instead  of  being  causes,  show 
merely  that  he  acts  uniformly,  and  that  when  we  have 
once  noticed  a  result  we  may  again  expect  it  in  similar 
circumstances.  The  agency  of  God  is  manifested  in  all  the 
phenomena  of  nature.  The  apparent  influence  of  the 
varying  seasons  that  beautify  or  desolate  the  ground,  of 
genial  sunshine,  of  storms  and  tempests,  all  result  from  the 
exercise  of  his  power. 

"  The  poor  Indian,  whose  untutor'd  mind 

Sees  God  in  clouds,  and  hears  him  in  the  wind," 

may  be  far  wiser  relative  to  the  cause  that  produces  them, 
than  many  skilled  in  worldly  wisdom.  That  system  of 
education  or  religion  that  stops  at  secondary  causes,  has 
overlooked  what  should  ever  be  its  great  object,  to  lead  its 
votaries  "  through  nature  up  to  nature's  God."  There  is 
not  a  single  plant  that  pleases  by  its  fi-agrance  or  charms 
with  its  beauty,  the  growth  of  which  was  not  caused  by  a 
direct  exertion  of  his  power :  and  every  change  in  nature, 
in  organized  and  in  inorganic  bodies,  that  is  not  caused 
by  some  created  being,  must  be  ascribed  to  this  same  great 
First  Cause.  Thus  w^e  should  learn  to  trace  the  power 
and  the  presence  of  God  in  all  around  us  ;  in  the  fall  of  a 
pebble,  and  in  the  rapid  motion  of  the  planet  in  its  orbit ; 
in  the  murmuring  zephyr,  and  in  the  desolating  tempest ; 
in  the  meandering  rivulet,  and  in  the  foaming,  thundering 
cataract.  "The  Lord  reigneth;"  he  is  not  far  removed, 
but  is  constantly  exerting  his  power  about  us. 

But  there  is  a  duty  enjoined  by  the  Psalmist :  "  Let  the 


316  THE  REIGN  OF  GOD  A  SOURCE  OF  JOY.  fSER. 

earth  rejoice ;  let  the  multitude  of  isles  be  glad  thereof." 
This  injunction  may  be  considered  as  addressed  to  the  in- 
telligent and  likewise  the  unintelligent  part  of  creation. 
The  latter  does  rejoice  in  the  goodness  of  its  Creator  ;  for 
wherever  we  go  we  find  indications  of  happiness.  They 
may  be  heard  in  the  notes  of  the  merry  songsters  of  the 
wood ;  they  may  be  seen  in  the  earth,  the  air,  and  the 
water.  The  varying  motions  of  the  myriads  that  float  in 
a  sunbeam,  the  activity  and  playfulness  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  waters,  all  indicate  joy  under  the  reign  of  God. 
Even  those  parts  of  unintelligent  creation,  which,  being 
placed  more  immediately  under  the  control  of  man,  yield 
submissively  to  his  commands,  perform  the  labor  he  re- 
quires, and  spend  their  strength  in  his  service,  victims 
often  of  his  caprice  and  cruelty,  still  seem  to  rejoice  in  the 
goodness  of  their  Creator,  and  to  find  life  a  blessing.  Man 
alone  partakes  not  of  the  general  joy.  On  account  of  his 
folly  earth  was  cursed,  and  as  a  consequence  of  his  sins 
misery  and  evil  overspread  the  world,  yet  he  alone  re- 
pines under  the  reign  of  God.  How  strikingly  the  course 
of  nature  tells  that  it  was  formed  for  a  happier  state !  It 
has  no  sympathy  with  human  wo,  and  corresponds  not  to 
man's  uncertain,  changing  condition.  The  joyous  aspect 
of  nature  seems  to  mock  him  who,  oppressed  by  anguish 
and  care,  goes  forth  to  wander  in  her  solitudes.  Flowers 
bloom  as  fair,  their  fragrance  is  as  sweet  around  the  couch 
of  the  dying  as  at  the  festive  board.  The  sun  shines  as 
brightly  when  sadness  overspreads  the  land,  when  a  na- 
tion's champion,  or  the  man  whose  virtuous  deeds  have 
endeared  him  to  his  countrymen,  is  expiring,  as  when  that 
nation  assembles  to  celebrate  the  jubilee  of  its  independence 
and  the  illustrious  deeds  of  its  heroes.  Its  glories  are  as 
bright,  the  face  of  nature  is  as  gay,  around  the  doomed  city 
where  pestilence  rages  and  destruction  wastes,  mocking  the 
skill  of  man,  as  around  the  most  favored  people  on  earth. 
Earth  has,  indeed,  been  cursed ;  cursed  with  the  curse  of 
God.  Storms  and  revolutions  sweep  over  its  surface,  but 
when  the  tempest  has  past,  nature  still  seems  to  smile  even 
amid  her  ruins.  He  who  can  go  forth  when  all  is  quiet ; 
when  the  destroying  agents  are  still,  and  man's  stormy 
passions  are  hushed ;  and  contemplate  the  face  of  nature, 
and  s^e  no  indications  that  it  wrs  formed  for  a  happier 


XXII.]        THE  REIGN  OF  GOD  A  SOURCE  OF  JOT.  Sl| 

State,  no  remains  of  its  former  beauty  and  loveliness  that 
have  survived  even  the  curse  of  its  Creator,  has  not  yet 
rightly  studied  her  works,  nor  read  "  that  elder  scripture 
writ  by  God's  own  hand."  Thus  do  the  unintelligent  and 
inanimate  parts  of  creation  rejoice  under  the  reign  of  God* 
Man  alone  is  found  repining.  He  goes  forth  amid  the 
ruin  and  misery  his  folly  has  caused,  and  murmurs  that  in 
common  with  other  parts  of  creation  he  must  suffer.  He 
finds  some  part  of  earth  that  does  not  seem  adapted  to  his 
use ;  a  marsh  or  a  desert  oppose  his  designs ;  he  meets 
with  a  poisonous  flower,  or  a  reptile  stings  him,  and  forth- 
with he  derides  the  wisdom  of  that  Being  that  thus  ordered 
nature.  He  seems  to  think  that  he  alone  should  engross 
Heaven's  care  ;  that  all  things  should  be  suited  to  his  con^. 
venience  and  fitted  for  his  use.  He  forgets  that,  with  ^11 
his  boasted  powers,  he  constitutes  but  an  insignificant  por-? 
tion  of  God's  works  ;  that  on  this  earth  myriads  of  beings 
derived  life  from  the  same  Hand  that  bestowed  it  on  him, 
and  share  in  the  goodness  and  protecting  care  of  the  sanie 
superintending  Providence.  Man  disobeys  all  the  natural 
and  moral  laws  of  his  being,  "  drops  on  headlong  appetite 
the  slackened  rein,"  and  plunges  into  all  the  excesses  of 
intemperance  and  vice ;  he  perverts  angel  talents,  forms 
engines  of  destruction,  and,  like  a  destroying  spirit,  he  goes 
forth  on  the  battle-field,  and  renders  earth  one  scene  of 
carnage  and  ruin.  But  when  the  natural  results  of  his 
conduct  appear  ;  when  his  own  system  is  attacked  by  pain 
and  disease  ;  when  anarchy  prevails  in  society,  destroying 
its  peace  and  harmony,  overthrowing  the  most  time-honor- 
ed and  beneficial  institutions,  and  upturning  the  very  found- 
ations of  the  social  fabric,  then,  instead  of  humbling  him- 
self under  a  sense  of  his  folly,  he  repines  at  the  govern- 
ment of  the  universe  :  with  bold,  brazen  front,  charging  on 
Him  the  evils  he  is  called  to  suffer,  he  curses  his  God,  and 
dies.  We  meet  no  stronger  proof  of  man's  degradation 
and  depravity,  than  his  insensibility  in  relation  to  his  sin 
and  the  mercy  of  God.  The  ancients  considered  unthank- 
fulness  for  favors  received  a  crime  worthy  of  punishment. 
If  ingratitude  toward  men  merits  so  severe  condemna- 
tion, how  much  greater  the  offense  when  manifested  toward 
God !  While  all  around  him  rejoice  under  the  reign  of 
God,  why  does  man,  most  highly  exalted  and  favored  in 


318  THE  REIGN  OF  GOD  A  SOURCE  OF  JOT.  [SER. 

this  part  of  creation,  alone  endowed  with  reason,  and  made 
capable  of  understanding  the  works  and  designs  of  his 
Creator,  alone  murmur,  obstinately  pervert  the  talents  and 
privileges  given  him  ?  Many  are  the  reasons  why  man 
should  especially  rejoice. 

1.  The  fact  that  we  have  a  Ruler  of  so  exalted  a  charac- 
ter, possessing  such  glorious  attributes,  is  itself  a  source  of 
joy.  He  is  a  being  of  infinite  goodness  and  wisdom,  and 
whatever  he  designs  he  has  power  to  perform.  Perfect  in 
himself,  and  independent  of  all  created  existences,  he  has 
exerted  all  his  attributes  for  the  good  of  his  creatures.  It 
is  evidently  a  source  of  joy  to  any  people  if  they  have 
wise  and  good  rulers,  interested  in  their  welfare,  willing 
and  able  to  devise  and  to  execute  all  plans  and  operations 
that  the  best  good  of  their  subjects  may  require.  In  these 
respects,  all  other  rulers  fall  infinitely  below  God,  who  is 
the  source  of  all  perfection,  the  giver  of  every  good  gift, 
"whose  tender  mercies  are  over  all  his  works."  He 
might  have  formed  us  so  ill-adapted  to  the  world  around 
us,  that  existence  would  be  a  curse.  He  might  have  made 
our  senses  so  unsuited  to  the  external  world,  that  every 
breath  would  cause  us  pain ;  that  every  object  of  sight 
should  produce  loathing ;  every  sound  should  be  a  harsh, 
grating  discord;  and  that  every  object  of  touch  should 
produce  the  most  extreme  agony.  How  different  from 
this  is  our  condition !  Where  sin  has  not  marred  and  dis- 
turbed the  order  and  harmony  of  nature,  we  find  every- 
thing designed  most  carefully  for  the  happiness  of  all 
created  beings.  No  one  has  been  able  to  devise  the  least 
improvement,  whereby  greater  happiness  could  be  secured 
in  the  relations  and  adaptations  of  animate  beings  to  the 
world  around  them.  This  great  Ruler  has  not  only  created, 
but  he  constantly  preserves,  all  his  subjects  ;  "  in  him  they 
live,  and  move,  and  have  their  being ;"  and  at  no  time  are 
they  unnoticed  by  him.  He  manifests  his  love  for  them  in 
the  most  endearing  manner,  representing  himself  as  a 
Father,  and  as  more  willing  to  give  them  good  gifts  than 
earthly  parents  are  to  give  them  to  their  children.  His 
power  is  exerted  for  their  defense ;  "  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  encampeth  round  about  them  that  fear  him,  and  de- 
li vereth  them  ;"  and  "  the  Lord  is  a  shield,  a  fortress,  a  sure 
defense  to  those  that  seek  him." 


XXII.]        THE  REIGN  OF  GOD  A  SOURCE  OF  JOT.  319 

2.  We  should  rejoice  under  the  reign  of  God  as  a  legis- 
lator. All  his  laws  are  just  and  perfect,  made  with  an 
exact  adaptation  to  his  works  and  the  wants  of  his  sub- 
jects. These  laws  he  has  published,  and  given  with  them 
full  evidence  of  their  authority.  They  are  plain,  simple, 
and  easily  understood ;  the  most  ignorant  can  from  them 
understand  what  is  good,  and  what  the  Lord  requireth  of 
him.  They  are  so  perfectly  calculated  to  secure  the  hap- 
piness of  those  to  whom  they  are  given,  that  no  one,  how- 
ever he  may  have  rebelled  against  the  divine  government, 
has  been  able  to  show  that  the  happiness  of  man  would  be 
promoted  by  the  abrogation  of  any  one  of  its  requirements. 

We  should,  moreover,  rejoice  that  these  laws  are  suit- 
ably enforced  by  the  great  Lawgiver  himself,  with  proper 
sanctions.  He  is  no  respecter  of  persons ;  the  high  and 
the  low,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  come  before  him,  and  are 
judged  by  the  same  stern,  unvarying  rules  of  justice. 

"  In  the  corrupted  currents  of  this  world 
Offense's  gilded  hand  may  shore  by  justice, 
And  oft  'tis  seen,  the  mcked  prize  itself, 
Buys  out  the  law ;  but  'tis  not  so  above." 

Often  judges,  and  the  executors  of  human  laws,  when 
they  desire  to  do  right,  and  to  render  strict  and  impartial 
justice,  err  from  not  understanding  all  the  evidence  ap- 
plicable to  the  case,  as  they  are  led  astray  by  artful  and 
designing  counselors.  But  God  knows  all  hearts,  he  seeks 
not  advice  from  any ;  and  no  wiles  of  crafty,  interested 
men,  no  sophistry,  can  clear  the  guilty,  when  judged  by 
him,  or  subject  the  innocent  to  punishment.  The  sanctions, 
by  which  his  laws  are  enforced,  are  such  as  become  so 
great  a  ruler,  distinguished  by  such  glorious,  infinite  attri- 
butes. The  rewards  he  gives  to  the  obedient  comprehend 
all  that  is  really  desirable ;  the  glory  of  them,  it  has  not 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive.  He  has  pre- 
pared for  such  a  fruition  of  happiness  far  above  their 
present  conceptions.  They  will  be  delivered  from  all  care, 
sorrow,  and  pain,  and  be  admitted  to  the  society  of  angels, 
the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  of  Christ  the 
Saviour  and  God  the  Father.  He  has  denounced  the 
most  fearful  penalties  against  those  who  violate  his  laws. 
They  will  be  condemned  to  endure  the  wrath  of  God,  the 


320  THE  REIGN   OF   GOD   A   SOURCE   OF  JOY.  [SER. 

anguish  and  remorse  of  a  guilty  conscience,  to  live  in  un- 
quenchable fire,  and  spend  an  eternity  in  the  society  of 
malignant  demons.  We  should  rejoice  that  the  Lord 
reigneth  as  a  legislator,  as  a  ruler,  whose  laws  are  just  and 
good,  one  whose  government  is  maintained  with  power  that 
none  can  overthrow. 

3.  But  we  should  still  more  rejoice,  that  hitherto  the 
Lord  has  reigned,  and  still  reigns,  on  a  throne  of  grace 
and  mercy.  Man  is  in  a  state  of  rebellion  ;  constituting 
but  a  feeble  and  insignificant  part  of  God's  works,  having 
no  power  in  himself  independently  to  do  anything,  he  has, 
nevertheless,  dared  to  pervert  the  being  and  power  given 
him,  to  raise  his  puny  arm  in  defiance  of  the  Ruler  of  the 
universe.  Considering  all  that  he  had  done  for  this  part 
of  his  dominions,  the  blessings  and  pecuhar  privileges  he 
had  given  it,  the  reasonableness  of  his  government,  and 
the  inexcusableness  of  this  rebellion,  what  could  any  intel- 
ligent being  have  expected  but  that  swift  and  fearful 
punishment  would  have  been  inflicted  on  the  rebels,  cor- 
responding to  the  enormity  of  their  offense  ?  From  man 
he  had  nothing  to  fear,  with  him  he  need  make  no  compro- 
mise ;  for  should  the  whole  universe  revolt,  his  throne  would 
remain  unshaken;  at  one  word  of  his  power,  all  would 
disappear,  and  God  again  would  exist  alone.  What  could 
have  been  more  naturally  expected,  than  that  he  would 
have  converted  this  world  into  one  vast  prison-house  of 
torment,  where  rebellious  man  would  for  ever  suffer  the  just 
penalty  of  his  crimes,  or  that  he  would  strike  earth  from 
existence,  extinguish  the  light  that  here  shines,  and  suffer 
darkness  to  regain  her  old  dominion  ?  Yet  how  different 
was  the  course  pursued  by  this  great  Ruler !  We  have 
already  spoken  of  the  goodness  of  God  in  creation ;  but  his 
goodness  in  redemption  far  exceeds  this,  and  is  a  stronger 
reason  why  we  should  rejoice  that  "the  Lord  reigneth." 
When  man  was  exposed  to  the  wrath  of  God,  able  to  offer 
no  satisfaction  for  his  violation  of  the  divine  law,  when 
there  was  no  created  arm  that  could  save  him  from  im- 
pending ruin,  God  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that,  through 
his  sufferings  and  death,  man  might  gain  eternal  life.  He, 
against  whom  man  had  sinned,  whose  laws  he  had  violated, 
whose  goodness  he  had  despised,  came  forth  to  mediate 
between  him  and  justice,  paid  the  great  debt,  redeemed 


XXII.]      THE  REIGN   OF  GOD  A  SOURCE  OF  JOY.  32X 

him  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  and  opened  a  new  and 
living  way  through  which  he  might  gain  the  favor  of  God 
and  the  joys  of  immortality.  The  hosts  of  heaven,  doubt- 
less, beheld  with  astonishment  the  presumption  and  folly 
of  man,  and  remained  in  expectation  of  some  fearful  mani- 
festation of  divine  justice  ;  but  when  the  wondrous  goodness 
of  God  in  redemption  was  made  known  to  them,  a  shout 
of  joy  arose  from  myriads  of  angels,  while  they  tuned  their 
harps,  and  sang  a  new  song  of  praise  and  adoration  to 
their  common  God,  and  proclaimed  peace  on  earth  and 
good-will  to  men.  But  the  "  earth  should  rejoice,  and  the 
multitude  of  isles  should  be  glad,"  not  only  that  God  on  his 
throne  of  grace  devised  and  offered  salvation  to  men,  but 
also  that  he  still  exercises  loving-kindness  and  forbearance 
to  those  that  continue  rebellious  and  ungrateful.  Christj 
from  his  mediatorial  throne,  has  commissioned  his  servants 
to  go  forth  and  proclaim  life  and  salvation  to  all  who  be- 
lieve on  him,  and  to  beseech  all,  in  his  stead,  to  be  recon-t 
ciled  to  God.  He  endeavors  to  win  them  to  himself, 
likewise,  by  the  various  means  of  grace  he  has  established, 
by  the  teachings  of  providence,  and  the  strivings  of  his 
Holy  Spirit.  The  gospel  has  been  proclaimed,  setting 
forth  man's  sin,  his  exposure  to  ruin  eternal,  his  only  way 
of  escape,  and  the  wonderful  condescension  and  compassion 
of  God  manifested  to  him ;  yet  how  few  regard  it !  With 
indifference  sinners  hear  the  story  of  a  Saviour's  love,  the 
danger,  the  ruin,  that  threaten  them.  Amid  the  entreaties 
of  God's  ambassadors,  the  intercessions  of  saints,  the  songs 
of  the  redeemed,  the  offer  of  the  glories  of  heaven,  in  view 
of  the  terrors  of  hell,  disregarding  all  manifestations  of 
God's  favor,  they  still  greedily  pursue  the  pleasures  of  sin, 
and  rush  on  in  the  broad  road  to  death.  Toward  such 
the  mercy  of  God  is  extended  ;  year  after  year  he  spares 
them,  he  calls  after,  and,  with  the  tenderness  of  a  father, 
he  entreats  them  to  look  unto  him  and  be  saved. 

While,  then,  we  may  exclaim,  "Wonder,  O  heavens, 
and  be  astonished,  0  earth !"  at  man's  ingratitude  and  sin ; 
we  have  reason  to  rejoice  that  the  Lord  reigneth  on  a 
throne  of  grace  and  mercy. 

4.  But  we  should  also  rejoice  that  the  Lord  will  soon 
reign  on  a  throne  of  universal  justice  and  judgment.    The 
time  is  coming,  when  "the  Lord  shall  judge  the  people 
14* 


322  THE  REIGN   OF   GOD   A  SOURCE   OF  JOY.         [SER. 

righteously.  Let  the  heavens  rejoice,  and  let  the  earth  be 
glad ;  let  the  sea  roar,  and  the  fullness  thereof.  Let  the 
field  be  joyful,  and  all  that  is  therein  ;  then  shall  all  the 
trees  of  the  wood  rejoice  before  the  Lord  ;  for  he  cometh 
to  judge  the  earth :  he  shall  judge  the  world  with  right- 
eousness, and  the  people  with  his  truth."  Psalm  xcvi,  10- 
13.  The  true  character  of  God's  government  is  not  now 
fully  displayed  ;  its  equity  is  not  apparent.  The  wicked 
may  be  seen  triumphant ;  when  we  look  for  judgment  we 
behold  oppression.  There  ai'e  cruelties  and  wrongs  innu- 
merable in  society,  monstrous  atrocities  that  are  perpe- 
trated by  the  strong  on  the  weak.  The  righteous  often 
are  tormented,  persecuted,  and  by  thousands  put  to  death 
with  cruel  tortures  ;  while  "  the  wicked  become  old  and 
are  mighty  in  power."  Considering  all  these  things,  one 
might  be  led  to  exclaim,  "  Is  there  no  reward  for  the  right- 
eous ?  Is  there  no  punishment  for  the  workers  of  ini- 
quity ?  Is  there  no  God  that  judgeth  in  the  earth  ?" 
"  Clouds  and  darkness  are  now  indeed  around  him,"  yet 
shall  it  be  seen  that  "  righteousness  and  judgment  are  the 
habitation  of  his  throne."  In  that  great  day  when  he  shall 
sit  on  his  throne  of  judgment,  "  when  his  lightnings  shall 
enlighten  the  world,  the  earth  see  and  tremble,  the  hills  be 
melted  like  wax  in  his  presence,  then  shall  the  heavens  de- 
clare his  righteousness  and  all  the  people  see  his  glory." 
Then  will  the  Lord  explain  all  the  mystery  now  enshroud- 
ing his  dealings  with  men,  and  show  clearly  the  justice 
and  goodness  of  his  government.  Then  shall  we  under- 
stand why  the  condition  of  men  is  permitted  here  to  be  so 
unequal — 

"  Why  unassuming  worth  in  secret  lived, 
And  died  neglected  :  why  the  good  man's  share 
In  life  was  gall  and  bitterness  of  soul ; 

why  heaven-born  tnith 

And  moderation  fair,  wore  the  red  marks 
Of  superstition's  scourge ;  why  licensed  pain, 
That  cruel  spoiler,  that  imbosom'd  foe, 
Imbitter'd  all  our  bliss." 

Then,  judging  every  man  according  to  his  works,  he  will 
reward  the  righteous  and  punish  the  wicked,  and  all  parts 
of  his  dominions  will  have  new  reasons  to  rejoice  that  the 
Lord  reigneth. 


XXII.]       THE  REIGN  OF   GOD  A  SOURCE  OF  JOT.  328 

5 .  The  assurance  that  the  Lord  reigneth  is  a  source  of 
great  consolation  to  those  that  trust  in  him.  The  human 
mind,  dissatisfied  with  the  objects  of  the  present  life,  is  con- 
tinually seeking  after  something  infinite  and  permanent,  in 
which  it  may  with  unwavering  confidence  trust.  There  is 
nothing  below  the  sun,  we  know  full  well,  on  which  we 
can  rely  with  safety.  All  things  earthly  are  mutable 
and  transitory.  "We  behold  our  fellow-beings  coming  on 
this  stage  of  action,  acting  their  several  parts  in  the 
drama  of  life,  and  then  passing  away.  Of  the  millions  that 
have  lived  in  ages  past,  no  one  survives,  and  few  are  the 
records  that  remain  to  tell  for  what  they  lived.  The  same 
current  that  has  swept  all  away,  is  irresistibly  bearing  us 
onward,  while  a  thick  veil  hides  from  our  view  that  future 
state  into  which  we  soon  shall  be  ushered.  But  when 
clouds  of  darkness  and  uncertainty  gather  around  us,  how 
cheering  is  the  assurance,  "  The  Lord  reigneth," — the 
throne  of  the  Eternal  stands  secure,  where  the  mutations 
of  time  reach  not,  and  its  revolutions  do  not  disturb ! 
There  is  a  touching  and  beautiful  incident  related  of  a 
sailor-boy  who  accompanied  his  father  on  the  treacherous 
ocean.  During  their  voyage  a  fearful  tempest  arose,  and 
the  dangers  that  threatened  them  caused  the  countenance 
of  the  hardy  mariner  to  turn  pale,  and  brought  dismay  and 
consternation  to  the  stoutest  heart.  But  amid  all  the  dis- 
traction, the  turmoil,  and  terrible  perils  of  the  scene,  this 
youth  was  seen,  undisturbed,  gazing  calmly  and  with  a  look 
of  confidence  on  him  to  whom  the  guidance  of  the  vessel  in 
that  awful  hour  had  been  committed.  When  reminded  of 
his  danger,  and  asked  if  he  did  not  fear — "  Fear  !  No,*' 
he  replied ;  "  my  father  is  at  the  helm."  What  an  instance 
is  this  of  childish  confidence  and  trust !  The  raging  of  the 
elements,  the  roaring  of  the  tempest,  the  heaving  and 
groaning  of  the  shattered  vessel,  brought  no  terrors  to  him. 
His  father  was  at  the  helm.  Confident  of  his  kindness  and 
affection,  ignorant  of  the  weakness  of  trusting  to  human 
power,  he  could  not  believe  that  his  father  would  suflTer 
harm  to  approach  him.  We  are  on  the  stormy  sea  of  life ; 
shoals,  quicksands,  and  ten  thousand  dangers,  lie  around  us 
on  every  side.  Storms  and  tempests  assail  us,  and  often 
death  appears  with  all  his  terrors.  The  sun  of  prosperity 
may  indeed  for  awhile  shine  with  cheering  radiance,  and 


324  THE  REIGN   OF   GOD   A  SOURCE   OF  JOY.         [SER. 

hope  may  joyously  spread  her  sails  to  the  propitious  breeze ; 
but  anon  the  dark  clouds  of  adversity  gather  around  us, 
our  sky  is  obscured,  and  our  frail  bark  is  tossed  on  the  bil- 
lows of  affliction.  Christian,  does  thy  heart  fail  thee  ?  art 
thou  ready  to  yield  in  despair  ?  Reflect !  thy  Father  is  at 
the  helm — the  Lord  reigneth.  He  rides  on  the  whirlwind, 
and  directs  the  storm.  The  winds  and  tempests  are  in  his 
hand,  and  the  afflictions  of  life  are  at  his  disposal.  O, 
when  will  man  learn  to  trust  implicitly,  with  childlike  con- 
fidence, in  his  God  ?  We  must  expect  to  meet  in  this  life 
with  trials  and  afflictions,  and  it  may  be  kindly  ordered 
thus.  Our  affections  are  too  much  attached  to  this  world  ; 
pleased  with  vanities,  we  are  prone  to  forget  our  duty  and 
our  destiny.  Adversity  sunders  the  ties  that  bind  us  to 
this  world,  teaches  us  the  frailty  and  vanity  of  all  earthly 
things,  and  leads  us  to  rely  on  Him  who  alone  is  un- 
changeable. There  are  many  who  have  had  reason  to 
rejoice  that  they  have  been  afflicted,  and  have  been  led 
to  say  : — 

"  Father,  I  bless  thy  gentle  hand ; 

How  kind  thy  chast'ning  rod, 
That  forced  my  conscience  to  a  stand. 

And  brought  my  wand'ring  soul  to  God  ! 
Foolish,  and  impotent,  and  blind, 

Ei-e  I  had  felt  thy  judgments,  Lord, 
I  lost  my  guide,  I  left  my  way. 

But  now  I  love  and  keep  thy  word." 

Has  disappointment  marked  you  for  its  victim  ?  Have 
you  seen  your  prospects,  one  after  another,  fail,  your 
sources  of  enjoyment  disappear,  and  have  those  who  com- 
menced life's  journey  with  you  passed  like  a  dream  away, 
leaving  you  to  pursue  your  dreary  course  alone  ?  Have 
you  been  called  to  pass  through  the  deep  waters  of  afflic- 
tion ?  O,  repine  not ;  the  Lord  reigneth,  and  will  do  all 
things  well.  He  will  so  order  events,  that,  if  you  are  faith- 
ful to  him,  these  light  afflictions,  which  are  but  for  a  mo- 
ment, shall  work  out  for  you  a  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory, — 

"  Whate'er  thy  lot,  whoe'er  thou  be, 
Confess  thy  folly,  kiss  the  rod, 
And  in  thy  chast'ning  sorrows  see 
The  hand  of  God. 


XXIII.]  CONSCIENCE.  325 

"  A  bruised  reed  he  will  not  break, 
Afflictions  all  his  children  feel : 
He  wounds  them  for  his  mercy  s  sake, 
He  wounds  to  heal." 

Thus  should  we,  whether  in  prosperity  or  adversity,  re- 
joice that  the  Lord  reigneth. 

And  ye  who  have  rebelled  against  him,  and  have  hitherto 
refused  his  offers  of  mercy,  consider  well  your  case  and 
condition.  You  can  now  resist  the  strivings  of  his  Spirit, 
refuse  all  his  calls  of  mercy ;  but  have  you  an  arm 
of  power  to  contend  with  God,  when  he  shall  come  to 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness  ?  "  The  Lord  reigneth ; 
let  sinners  tremble."  Now  is  the  hour  of  mercy,  when 
from  his  throne  of  grace  he  offers  terms  of  reconciliation. 
Haste,  then,  O  sinner  !  now  be  wise  and  submit  while  par- 
don may  be  found,  and  his  favor  gained.  Be  assured  his 
kingdom  must  prevail ;  before  him  every  knee  shall  bow. 
While  the  sword  of  justice  is  suspended,  listen,  ye  that  are 
unreconciled  to  him,  to  the  calls  of  a  God  and  the  entreaties 
of  a  Saviour,  that  you  may  join  in  the  general  joy  at  his 
government.  Then  may  your  voices  mingle  with  "  the 
voice  of  that  great  multitude  which  shall  be  as  the  voice 
of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of  mighty  thunderings, 
saying.  Alleluia :  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth." 


SERMON  XXIII. 

Conscience^  as  an  Instrument  of  Punishment. 

BY  REV.  FREEBORN  G.  HIBBARD,  A.  M., 

OF   THE   GENESEE   CONFERENCE. 

"And  thou  mourn  at  the  last,  when  thy  flesh  and  thy  body  are 
consumed,  and  say.  How  have  I  hated  instruction,  and  my  heart 
despised  reproof;  and  have  not  obeyed  the  voice  of  my  teachers,  nor 
inclined  mine  ear  to  them  that  instructed  me  !  I  was  almost  in  all 
evil  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  and  assembly." — Prov.  v,  11-14. 

These  are  the  words,  and  this  the  condition,  of  a  young 
man,  whose  dissolute  life  had  induced  disease,  and  want, 
and  infamy.     Standing  now  upon  the  further  limit  of  time, 


326  CONSCIENCE,  [SER. 

about  to  descend  to  a  premature  grave,  he  spends  the  last 
moments  of  his  inglorious  life  in  retrospections  upon  his 
course  of  conduct.  He  had  spurned  the  counsels  of  the 
wise,  and  contemned  the  admonitions  of  the  prudent ;  he 
had  repudiated  the  marriage  covenant,  and  broken  away 
from  the  restraints  of  virtuous  society,  till  even  conscience 

"  — seem'd,  nodding  o'er  her  charge,  to  drop 
On  headlong  appetite  the  slacken'd  rein, 
And  give  him  up  to  license  unrecall'd, 
Unmark'd." 

But  his  career  of  folly  is  at  length  checked  by  the  viru- 
lence of  disease.  He  now  feels  under  an  arrest  by  the 
hand  of  insulted  justice,  and  his  wasted  form  lingers  for  a 
time  upon  the  confines  of  the  boundless  future,  while  con- 
science awakes,  like  the  meteor's  glare,  to  reveal  the  hor- 
rors of  his  condition.  He  stands  out  upon  the  dim  verge 
of  life,  a  beacon  light  to  all  who  live  without  God.  His 
reputation  is  blasted ;  "  his  honor  he  had  given  to  another  ;'* 
his  wealth  had  been  fooHshly  lavished  upon  "the  stranger;" 
his  health  ruined  by  his  excesses,  and  his  years  cut  off  by 
dissipation  :  but  that  which  added  poignancy  to  his  distress 
was  the  moral  aspect  of  his  life.  Remorse,  like  a  fierce 
vulture,  had  clutched  upon  his  soul,  and  despair  had  cast 
the  shadows  of  a  cheerless  night  around  him.  It  was  not 
that  life  was  so  short;  that  wealth  and  fame  had  irre- 
coverably fled  ;  that  dire  pains  racked  his  body,  and  disease 
drank  up  his  spirits,  that  he  chiefly  lamented.  These  Were 
not  of  themselves  insupportable.  But  while  the  wrecks 
of  all  that  was  perishable  lay  strewn  in  his  path,  and  the 
light  of  hope  was  now  fading  for  ever  from  his  eye ;  his 
soul,  "  still  powerful  to  reason,  full  mighty  to  suffer,"  ut- 
tered its  deep  lamentations  in  the  reproachful  words,  "How 
have  I  hated  instruction,  and  my  heart  despised  reproof; 
and  have  not  obeyed  iho,  voice  of  my  teachers,  nor  inclined 
mine  ear  to  them  that  instructed  me !"  It  was  Irom  his 
moral  reflections  that  his  keenest  anguish  arose.  It  was 
sin  that  armed  death  with  its  more  than  mortal  sting.  Here 
let  us  pause,  and  from  this  sad  history  draw  forth  the 
admonitions  of  wisdom. 

The  theme  which  will  receive  our  attention  in  the  fol- 
lowing discourse,  is,  conscience^  as  an  instru7nent  of  moral 
'punishment. 


XXIII.]  AN  INSTRUMENT   OF  PUNISHMENT.  327 

I  say  moral,  to  distinguish  it  from  civil  or  corporeal 
punishment.  It  is  not  the  province  of  man  to  punish  im- 
moralities as  such.  Human  laws  take  cognizance  only  of 
the  overt  act,  and  their  penalties  have  relation  to  man  in 
the  complex  relations  of  civil  life.  Impure  motives  are  not 
cognizable  by  civil  law,  and  cannot  be  appropriately 
punished  by  the  magistrate.  It  is  in  the  moral  nature 
alone  that  vice,  as  such,  can  meet  its  just  awards.  Here 
must  be  the  seat  of  that  suffering  due  to  moral  offense. 
This  is  bejond  the  province  of  man,  or  any  finite  power, 
to  arbitrate.  Omniscience  alone  can  adjudge,  and  con- 
science execute,  a  strictly  moral  punishment. 

In  discoursing  upon  this  subject,  we  shall  observe, 

I.  The  natural  authority  of  conscience,  and  its 

CONSEQUENT  POWER  TO  INFLICT  PUNISHMENT. 

II.  The   nature    and   extent    of   its    punitive 

ACTION. 

I.  The  natural  authority  of  conscience,  and  its  conse- 
quent power  of  punishment. 

1.  If  we  would  appreciate  the  capacity  of  the  soul  to 
suffer  through  the  morbid  action  of  the  moral  feelings,  we 
must  first  understand  its  internal  structure,  its  several 
faculties  and  powers  ;  or,  if  the  phrase  suit  better,  its  va- 
rious states  and  affections ;  and  the  relation  of  conscience 
to  the  whole. 

Man  is  endowed  with  various  powers  of  reason,  of  sen- 
sibility, and  of  action.  Of  the  principles  of  action,  some 
are  mechanical,  as  instinct  and  habit ;  some  are  animal,  as 
the  appetites  and  some  of  the  desires  and  affections  ;  and 
others  rational,  arising  from  a  knowledge  of  his  relations 
to  other  beings,  and  from  a  foresight  of  the  proper  conse- 
quences of  his  acts.  He  thus  combines  in  his  nature  those 
laws  which  govern  the  brute  creation,  with  those  which 
declare  him  to  be  made  in  the  "  image  of  God,"  and  suit 
him  to  a  state  of  moral  discipline.  With  this  complex 
nature  he  is  endowed  with  the  power  of  self-government, 
which  implies  the  due  exercise  of  all  the  properties  of  his 
being,  under  the  direction  and  control  of  one  supreme  au- 
thority. This  authority  is  conscience,  which  God  has 
enthroned  in  the  human  breast  with  all  the  attributes  of 
sovereignty.  By  this  faculty,  as  an  intellectual  principle, 
man  judges  of  the  relation  his  conduct  bears  to  the  rule 


328  CONSCIENCE,  [SER. 

of  duty,  and  of  its  tendencies  in  the  moral  system;  as 
a  motive  principle,  it  enforces  right  conduct  upon 
grounds  the  most  rational,  by  feelings  the  most  sacred  and 
urgent. 

The  brute  animal  rushes  on  to  the  gratification  of  its 
desires  without  a  thought  beyond  the  immediate  object  of 
pursuit,  and  with  no  higher  law  to  govern  it  than  the  pre- 
sent impulse  of  appetite.  Not  so  with  man.  He  brings 
under  his  eye  the  just  relations  of  universal  being — lifts 
the  curtain  of  futurity,  and  traces  the  operation  of  causes 
to  their  ultimate  effects — and  what,  upon  the  wide  scale 
of  existence,  and  in  the  flow  of  infinite  duration,  is  pro- 
motive of  the  chief  good,  he  chooses  and  pursues.  This  is 
the  graduating  scale  of  the  moral  law ;  this  the  governing 
law  of  man's  nature ;  he  is  capable  of  this,  was  made  to 
act  thus,  and  cannot  be  said  to  act  naturally,  or  agreeably 
to  the  full  powers  of  his  being,  if  he  act  otherwise.  His 
highest  nature  can  be  developed  in  no  other  way.  He  has 
appetites  and  desires  like  the  brute,  which  seek  their  ap- 
propriate objects,  and  furnish  a  strong  inducement  to  live 
for  present  gratification  ;  but  he  has  also  a  nobler  endow- 
ment— a  higher  ground,  and  a  safer  rule  of  action — and  a 
more  sublime  and  enduring  susceptibility  of  enjoyment. 
In  the  present  gratification  of  desire  he  may,  indeed,  fulfill 
an  inferior  law  of  his  nature — he  may  be  consistent  with 
himself,  considered  merely  as  possessing  an  animal  consti- 
tution ;  but  the  case  may  be  such  as  to  impinge  a  higher 
law — the  sovereign  law  of  conscience.  He  may  be  a  con- 
sistent animal,  but  a  perverse  man. 

2.  But  consider  what  a  monitor  conscience  is.  It  teaches 
us  to  perform  in  good  faith,  as  being  right,  that  which  we 
do ;  but  it  does  not  of  itself  supply  an  independent  rule 
of  right.  If  the  particular  rule  of  action  should  be  de- 
fective, it  is  not  the  office  of  conscience,  in  its  direct  opera- 
tions, to  correct  it.  It  avails  itself  of  the  best  aids  of  the 
understanding,  and  enjoins  upon  its  possessor  to  act  upon 
a  conviction  of  right,  according  to  the  best  information 
within  his  reach.  Tlie  apostle  informs  us  that  the  heathen 
world  are  governed  by  conscience  ;  and  though  their  rule 
of  duty,  by  which  conscience  operates,  is  not  written  in 
alphabetical  characters,  it  is,  nevertheless,  graven  "  on  the 
heart ;"  it  is  in  part  the  law  of  the  constitution  of  all  so- 


XXIII.]  AN  INSTRUMENT  OF  PUNISHMENT.  329 

cial  beings,  and  in  part  supplied  by  tradition  and  the 
simpler  deductions  of  reason. 

3.  The  government  of  conscience  is  not  like  that  of  the 
animal  appetites.  Instance  our  desire  for  animal  food.  It 
is  at  first  a  gentle  monition  ;  but  neglected,  it  rises  by  de- 
grees till  its  painful  effects  are  felt  throughout  the  system, 
the  mind  is  drawn  off  from  the  pursuits  of  business  and 
pleasure,  and  we  are  compelled  to  seek  its  gratification. 
Not  so  with  conscience.  Its  voice  is  gentle  and  persua- 
sive, often  drowned  in  the  clamor  of  passion,  or  unheeded 
in  the  eager  pursuit  of  forbidden  pleasure.  But,  however 
inadequate  may  be  its  practical  power  to  govern  in  a  given 
case,  its  rightful  sovereignty  is  undisputed  and  eternal. 

4.  But  if  conscience  is  supreme,  according  to  the  original 
constitution  of  our  nature,  then,  whatever  may  be  the  oc- 
casional, temporary  abuse  it  may  receive  from  the  usurpa- 
tion of  the  animal  propensities,  it  must,  upon  the  whole, 
and  taking  aU  the  range  of  our  existence  into  the  account, 
possess  an  ascendent  power  over  man. 

However  impotent  the  moral  feelings  may  seem  in  the 
generality  of  men  in  the  present  state  of  existence,  no 
argument  can  be  drawn  from  this  fact  to  disparage  the 
real  efiiciency  of  conscience  as  the  directive  and  executive 
principle  of  the  soul.  The  present  is  a  state  of  probation, 
and  this  single  fact  involves  the  possibility  of  an  abuse  of 
those  powers,  in  the  right  cultivation  of  which  consists  the 
highest  perfection  of  our  nature.  But  man  is  under  moral 
government,  by  the  remedial  and  executive  operations  of 
which  he  will  ultimately  be  placed  in  circumstances  wherein 
all  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  mind  will  have  their 
legitimate  scope  of  action. 

It  cannot  be  that  those  principles  of  our  nature  which 
constitute  the  crowning  glory  of  man,  and  which,  by  the 
very  charter  of  our  being,  are  constituted  supreme, 
should  always  be  subjected  to  the  inferior  powers.  In  the 
progress  of  our  being,  and  the  development  of  the  wise 
purposes  of  Heaven,  they  must,  sooner  or  later,  be  called 
forth,  if  not  to  answer  the  end  for  which  they  were  at  first 
bestowed,  still,  to  furnish  the  abuses  they  have  received. 
And  this  power  to  furnish  will  be  great  in  proportion  to 
their  relative  importance  in  the  social  economy.  The  very 
notion  of  supreme  authority,  in  a  well-organized  govern- 


330  CONSCIENCE,  [SER. 

ment,  implies  the  control  of  all  those  means  necessary  to 
enforce  law  upon  the  unAvilling.  So  with  conscience.  All 
the  powerful  springs  of  mental  action  and  of  sensibility 
are  under  its  command,  and  will  one  day  yield  a  ready 
compliance  with  the  mandates  of  their  rightful  sovereign. 
The  intellectual  powers  are  its  faithful  allies — judgment  is 
its  unbribed  counsel,  and  memory  its  recording  scribe. 
Hope,  fear,  desire,  with  those  emotions  of  regret  or  glad- 
ness that  arise  from  retrospection,  are  more  influenced  by 
conscience  than  by  any  other  faculty. 

5.  But  it  is  not  from  the  deductions  of  reason  only  that 
we  arrive  at  an  estimate  of  the  punitive  power  of  con- 
science. Go  where  you  will ;  turn  over  the  pages  of  this 
world's  history  ;  and  the  natural  dread  of  an  accusing  con- 
science will  be  found  to  have  been  the  rod  of  terror  to  the 
guilty  in  all  ages.  No  man  will  long  abide  the  direct 
action  of  self-reproach.  If  he  accept  not  relief  in  repent- 
ance and  forgiveness,  he  will  seek  refuge  elsewhere  from 
the  inner  pangs  of  remorse.  Some  special  plea  of  ex- 
tenuation will  be  entered ;  some  lower  and  more  lenient 
rule  of  duty  sought  out ;  some  element  of  belief,  calculated 
to  modify,  or  perhaps  neutralize,  the  action  of  truth  upon 
the  mind,  adopted ;  some  noble  act  performed  to  atone  for 
the  sin ;  or  some  remaining  trait  of  remaining  excellence 
advanced  to  a  front  view  to  hide  the  deformity  of  charac- 
ter and  beguile  the  eye  of  reason ;  some  expedient  to  calm 
the  perturbed  motions  within ;  or,  should  these  fail,  the 
wretched  man,  scourged  as  with  the  sting  of  scorpions, 
stubbornly  resists  the  truth,  abandons  duty,  and  blindly 
rushes  on  to  a  darker  ruin. 

The  restlessness  of  the  soul,  under  the  action  of  self-re- 
proach, has  displayed  itself  upon  a  wide  scale  in  the  cum- 
brous and  often  sanguinary  superstitions  of  the  heathen. 
A  sense  of  moral  turpitude,  and  a  consequent  fear  of  di- 
vine punishment,  have  urged  men  in  all  ages  to  adopt  some 
measures  to  avert  the  wrath  and  propitiate  the  favor  of 
Deity.  The  sacrificial  rites  of  the  heathen  were  mostly 
deprecatory,  and  stand  as  the  unerring  index  of  a  mind  op- 
pressed with  guilt,  and  laboring  darkly  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem, "  How  shall  a  man  be  just  with  God  ?" 

We  have  seen  the  distress  and  anguish  which  a  sense  of 
guilt  produces  in  the  breast  of  the  awakened  sinner :  we 


XXIII.]  AN  INSTRUMENT  OP  PUNISHMENT.  331 

have  seen  him  when  sleep  had  departed  from  his  eyes,  and 
he  forgot  to  take  his  meat ;  when  he  had  left  the  halls  of 
mirth  and  gayety,  and  had  wrapped  himself  in  sackcloth, 
and  bound  his  heart  in  grief;  we  have  heard  the  deep 
groan  break  on  the  stillness  of  the  night,  as  he  smote  upon 
his  breast  and  sent  up  a  cry  for  mercy ;  we  have  seen  the 
inebriate  renounce  his  cups,  the  man  of  pleasure  forsake 
his  sensualities,  the  covetous  "  let  go  his  eager  grasp  on 
gold,"  and  the  worldly  great  bow  meekly  at  the  cross ; — 
we  have  witnessed  the  ready  relinquishment  of  earth's 
highest  favor,  for  the  boon  of  inward  peace.  Still,  these 
are  but  faint  monitions  of  that  amazing  power,  which, 
though  it  slumber  now,  will  ere  long  awake,  at  the  sum- 
mons of  that  "  Heaven-commissioned  hour"  which  ushers 
in  the  solemn  pomp  of  eternity.  But  let  us  turn  our  in- 
quiries more  directly  to 

II.  The  nature  and  extent  of  the  'punitive  action  of  con- 
science. 

The  sufferings  occasioned  by  a  guilty  conscience  are  the 
result  of  moral  reflections  upon  a  course  of  sin,  and  a  con- 
sciousness of  a  present  state  unsuited  to  the  great  moral 
ends  of  existence.  These  reflections  and  this  consciousness 
are,  by  a  mysterious  law  of  our  nature,  attended  with  lively 
emotions  of  peculiar  distress.  Let  us  contemplate  the 
effects  of  sin  upon  our  relations  to  God,  to  holy  beings,  and 
upon  our  own  moral  constitution.  In  relation  to  God,  a 
consciousness  of  guilt  is  accompanied, 

1.  With  a  sense  of  the  loss  of  divine  favor  and  fellow- 
ship. The  happiness  which  one  inteUigent  being  derives 
from  society  with  another,  results  from  a  reciprocity  of 
kindred  sentiment  and  feeling.  A  similarity  of  constitu- 
tional properties  creates  a  natural  ground  of  sympathy  as 
the  basis  of  interchange,  and  the  perfection  of  social  hap- 
piness implies  that  each  enters  freely  and  fully  into  the 
mental  states  and  exercises  of  the  other.  This  being  the 
case,  the  happiness  of  each  will  be  proportioned  to  the 
moral  and  intellectual  elevation  of  the  other.  Pure  moral 
sympathy  marks  the  highest  grade  of  enjoyment  of  which 
an  intelligent  being  is  capable. 

But  it  is  not  in  communion  with  the  finite  mind  that  the 
immortal  sympathies  of  our  nature  can  meet  their  highest 
susceptibility  of  enjoyment.     The  power  of  indefinite  ex- 


332  CONSCIENCE,  [SER,. 

pansion  points  the  soul  to  a  more  exalted  destiny.  Those 
ceaseless  yearnings  after  knowledge  and  happiness  which 
are  ever  widening  and  freshening,  and  come  welling  up 
from  the  hidden  depths  of  its  existence,  were  never  in- 
tended to  terminate  on  the  creature.  The  soul  was  made 
for  God.  It  bears  his  image,  and  was  fitted  to  bask  in  the 
smiles  of  his  love.  If  an  exact  agreement  between  two. 
finite  minds  produces  happiness,  their  union  with  the  Lifi- 
nite  is  transcendently  more  beatifying.  In  his  favor  we 
live — desire  is  satiated ;  cut  off  from  God  we  perish,  like 
the  withered  branch  severed  from  the  parent  tree.  Our 
happiness  is  graduated  by  a  scale  of  approximation  to  the 
divine  character.  Godliness  is  the  sum  of  our  duty  and 
the  summit  of  our  bliss.  The  moral  essence  of  heaven  is 
comprised  in  the  words,  "  We  shall  be  like  HimP  HoU- 
ness  and  happiness  stand  related  to  each  other  as  cause 
and  effect.  It  is  by  the  constitution  of  the  human  mind 
that  our  highest  perfection  and  happiness  result  from  a 
consciousness  that  our  mental  states  and  exercises  are  in 
exact  sympathy  with  those  of  the  divine  Mind. 

But  sin  disturbs  this  harmony,  severs  the  bond  of  this 
spiritual  union,  alienates  the  creature  from  the  Creator, 
and  perverts  all  the  moral  tastes  and  relishes  of  the  soul, 
A  sense  of  being  at  enmity  with  the  highest  moral  excel- 
lence in  the  universe  degrades  the  mind  from  its  native 
dignity,  and  sinks  it  to  a  Condition  of  wretchedness  which 
can  be  measured  only  by  a  rule  of  inversion  to  the  moral 
altitude  from  which  it  has  fallen.  Just  as  important  as  the 
highest  moral  purity  is  to  the  happiness  of  the  soul,  just  so 
wretched,  inversely,  will  be  the  soul  under  a  moral  con- 
sciousness of  hostility  to  that  goodness. 

Pause,  then,  thoughtless  man,  and  consider  what  it  is  to 
possess  a  nature  unlike  to  God !  Think  what  thou  wilt 
do  when  all  thy  earthly  dependences  are  cut  off;  when 

"  — mold'ring  earthward,  'reft  of  every  trust," 

thy  "  dust  shall  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and  thy  spirit 
to  the  God  who  gave  it."  Think  what  existence  will  be 
to  thee  when  all  that  is  lovely  and  beatifying  in  the  infi- 
nite Mind  shall  be  withheld  from  thee,  and  thou,  exiled 
from  the  abodes  of  the  blessed,  shalt  be  doomed  to  feel  the 
pain  of  an  unalleviated  want — 


XXni.]  AN   INSTRUMENT   OF  PUNISHMENT.  333 

"  To  writhe,  to  toss,  to  pant  beneath  thy  load, 
And  bear  the  weight  of  an  offended  God."  ^ 

2.  A  sense  of  guilt  is  accompanied  with  an  apprehen- 
sion of  punishment.  In  the  breast  of  every  man  there  ex- 
ists a  belief  that  this  world  is  under  a  providential  govern- 
ment, from  the  just  awards  of  which  he  has  something  to 
hope  or  to  fear  in  a  future  state  of  being.  True,  this  be- 
lief exists  in  various  degrees  ;  is  not  always  a  practical 
principle  with  men ;  is  often  found  during  the  most  of 
one's  life  in  a  latent,  or  dormant  state ;  yet,  there  it  is,  the 
same  veritable,  almost  instinctive  belief — a  belief  which  no 
speculative  sophistry  nor  life  of  dissipation  can  efface — and 
needs  only  a  suitable  occasion  to  call  it  forth.  Often  has 
conscience,  after  a  long  period  of  inactivity  occasioned  by 
abuse — 

" while  she  seem'd  to  sleep 

On  rose  and  myrtle,  lull'd  with  syren  song — " 

suddenly  started  "  from  her  cavern  in  the  soul's  abyss,"  as 
if  invigorated  by  repose,  and,  summoning  all  the  powers  of 
the  soul  to  her  aid,  executed  her  vindictive  office  with  re- 
sistless energy.  Particularly  has  this  power  discovered  it- 
self where  the  offender  has  been  unexpectedly  brought  into 
danger.  At  such  times  he  feels  his  dependence  upon  a 
retributive  Power  from  whom  there  is  now  no  avenue  of 
escape.  He  shrinks  from  the  prospect  of  meeting  an  in- 
sulted God,  and  sends  up  a  plea  for  mercy.  It  is  not  the 
imbecility  of  a  perishable  nature  that  yields  the  external 
cry  ;  it  is  the  return  of  conscience  to  her  rightful  dominion 
— though  a  return,  alas !  which  is  often  too  late  to  recover 
the  ruined  soul  from  the  anarchy  of  sin  and  the  wretched- 
ness of  despair. 

In  the  history  of  Joseph's  brethren  we  have  an  illustra- 
tion of  this  peculiar  power  of  conscience.  Twenty-one 
years  had  elapsed  since  they  had  wickedly  conspired 
against  their  brother,  and  the  matter  had  slumbered  in  un- 
disturbed concealment.  But  no  sooner  were  they  arrested 
as  spies,  and  brought  into  imminent  peril,  than  conscience, 
by  an  eternal  law  of  our  moral  nature,  awoke,  and  began  the 
fearful  work  of  retrospection.  Their  inhumanity  to  Joseph 
first  meets  their  eye  ;  the  lips  of  confession  are  unsealed : 
"  And  they  said  one  to  another,  We  are  verily  guilty  con- 


334  CONSCIENCE,  [8ER. 

cerning  our  brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul, 
when  he  besought  us,  and  we  would  not  hear ;  therefore  is 
this  distress  come  upon  us."  How  different  the  office  of 
conscience  in  the  breast  of  a  holy  man,  in  the  hour  of  ad- 
versity !  To  him  afflictions  serve  to  settle  more  securely 
the  well-grounded  trust,  and  render  more  pure  and  consol- 
ing the  perspective  visions  of  hope.  But  the  holy  guards 
of  faith  and  hope  are  withdrawn  when  innocence  has 
fallen,  and  suspicion  and  distrust — 

"  — the  dim-eyed  heralds  of  dismay — " 

look  out  upon  the  darkened  future,  while  fear  spreads  an 
alarm  through  all  the  revolted  empire  of  the  soul. 

How  oft  has  the  rustle  of  a  leaf,  the  hasty  footstep,  the 
smothered  whisper,  the  stranger's  look,  startled  the  assas- 
sin, brought  the  images  of  death  before  his  terrified  imagi- 
nation, and  awakened  emotions  that  have  betrayed  to  the 
world  the  midnight  secret  of  his  heart.  "  The  wicked  flee 
when  no  man  pursueth."  His  irregularity,  indecision,  and 
embarrassment,  in  all  his  movements,  at  length  leak  out 
the  fearful  workings  of  an  accusing  conscience,  and  lay  a 
train  of  circumstances  by  which  the  messengers  of  justice 
are  put  upon  the  track.  C4uilt  places  the  offender  in  a 
new  relation  to  law,  brings  him  under  the  dominion  of 
passions  which  constantly  exert  a  disturbing  power  upon 
his  reason,  lends  to  each  aspect  of  things  an  unnatural  hue, 
and  plants  the  serpent  in  his  path  by  day,  and  the  thorn 
in  his  pillow  by  night. 

Nor  let  it  be  supposed  that  it  is  the  civil  arm  alone  of 
which  men  stand  in  awe — though  this  itself  is  one  of  the 
appointed  means  of  Heaven  for  punishing  sin — nor  yet 
cases  of  great  overt  criminality,  by  which  conscience  is 
aroused  to  execute  its  penal  function.  It  is  the  spiritual- 
ity of  the  law  that  lends  to  offense  its  peculiar  turpitude, 
and  points  the  envenomed  shafts  of  self-reproach,  and  agi- 
tates the  fears.  It  is  the  inward  belief  that  there  is  a  God 
of  judgment,  from  whose  vigilance  there  is  no  escape,  that 
gives  reality  to  the  fearful  apprehensions  of  the  guilty. 

But  it  is  not  in  this  life  that  conscience  exerts  its  great- 
est retributive  power.  Here  the  complexity  of  man's  con- 
dition opens  to  him  resources  of  enjoyment  in  which  his 
highest  nature  cannot  participate.     Here  the  sinner  lives 


XXIII.]  AN  INSTRUMENT   OF  PUNISHMENT.  335 

a  life  of  sense.  He  feeds  on  the  vanities  of  the  world,  and 
wraps  himself  in  its  attractive  drapery,  and  pursues  the 
false  glitter  of  its  honor,  and  lulls  his  fears  to  repose  upon 
the  lap  of  its  seductive  pleasures.  But  such,  to  one  like 
him,  verging  on  to  an  unseen  eternity,  is  an  unreal,  be- 
cause an  unnatural,  life.  The  flush  of  worldly  prosperity 
is  but  the  hectic  of  an  inward  fatal  disease — the  calm  of 
conscience  but  the  deadly  portent  of  a  gathering  storm — 

"  The  torrent's  smoothness,  ere  it  dash  below." 

How  oft,  at  the  sudden  approach  of  death,  have  the  smo- 
thered fires  of  conscience  burst  forth  to  shed  a  momentary 
gleam  upon  the  surrounding  darkness — 

"  As  ocean-wrecks  illuminate  the  storm ;" 

and  ah !  when  the  hopeless  soul  awoke  to  see  its  danger, 
no  help  was  near.  It  had  passed  the  last  light-house  of 
mercy,  spurned  the  pilotage  of  truth,  and  was  now  drifting 
upon  the  rocks  of  despair. 

"  So  bad  a  death  argues  a  monstrous  life." 

Alas !  how  are  the  wicked  "  brought  into  desolation  as 
in  a  moment !  They  are  utterly  consumed  with  terrors." 
Yea,  "  it  shall  not  be  well  with  the  wicked,  neither  shall 
he  prolong  his  days,  which  are  as  a  shadow ;  because  he 
feareth  not  before  God." 

In  relation  to  other  moral  beings,  a  sense  of  guilt  is  ac- 
companied with 

1.  A  loss  of  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  holy. 
The  desire  of  esteem  is  a  part  of  our  mental  constitution, 
and  an  original  spring  of  action  in  man.  Its  great  power 
in  molding  the  character  and  governing  the  life  indicates 
to  what  extent  our  happiness  is  made  to  depend  upon  its 
right  cultivation.  The  desire  of  society  is  not  more  potent 
in  its  practical  influence  than  the  desire  to  be  trusted,  and 
respected,  and  beloved,  by  those  with  whom  our  social  being 
is  blended.  Every  man  feels  that  society  is  pleasant  and  de- 
sirable in  proportion  as  he  is  respected  and  beloved;  is 
irksome  where  his  presence  awakens  no  emotions  but 
those  of  aversion  and  contempt.  To  act  nobly  and  praise- 
worthily— to  perform  some  deed  whereby  the  gratitude, 
the  admiration,  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  others  shall 


336  CONSCIENCE,  [SEE. 

be  secured — is  that  for  which  each  child  of  Adam  daily 
longs.  Point  to  him  the  road  to  honor — place  before  him 
an  object  of  real  merit  and  moment — "  and  the  merest  day- 
drudge  kindles  into  a  hero."  It  is  hence  men  labor  for 
posthumous  fame : 

"  For  this  men  write,  speak,  preach,  and  heroes  kill, 
And  bards  bum  what  they  call  their  midnight  taper, 
To  have,  when  the  original  is  dust, 
A  name.^' 

The  abuses  of  this  principle,  in  the  pursuits  of  unsancti- 
fied  ambition,  furnish  no  evidence  that  it  is  not  a  part  of 
our  constitution,  originally  bestowed  by  the  Creator  for  the 
well-being  of  man.  We  gain  the  concurrence  of  another's 
opinions  and  sympathies,  and  the  sphere  of  our  existence 
seems  instantly  enlarged.  Already  we  maintain  a  sort  of 
identity  in  that  other  mind.  As  the  sphere  of  kindred 
minds  widens,  our  individuality  seems  proportionately  dif- 
fused, and  our  pleasure  is  commensurate  to  the  extent  and 
purity  of  this  sympathetic  oneness.  Inversely  is  that  man 
wretched  who  is  cut  off  from  these  resources.  We  see 
hundreds  living  in  the  midst  of  society  in  a  state  of  isola- 
tion and  excitement,  with  none  of  the  sweets  of  social  life, 
corroded  and  imbittered  with  distrust  and  evil  surmisings, 
and  ill-will  toward  mankind,  from  the  simple  cause  that 
they  have  failed  to  establish  themselves  in  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  others.  "  Love  is  the  bond  of  perfect  union." 
Break  this,  and  you  dissolve  the  only  element  of  social 
order  and  happiness.  The  dark  purpose  of  the  suicide  is 
formed,  not  till  the  dread  of  dishonor  and  reproach  over- 
comes the  natural  love  of  life  and  fear  of  death.  Death 
itself  is  not  so  terrible  to  man  as  the  doom, 

"  To  roam  along  the  world's  tired  denizen, 
With  none  to  bless  him,  none  whom  he  can  bless ; 
None  that,  with  kindred  consciousness  endued, 
If  he  were  not,  would  seem  to  smile  the  less." 

But  sin  disturbs  the  pure  sympathy  of  moral  beings,  and 
ruptures  the  bond  of  their  native  union.  Just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  mind  is  conscious  of  having  violated  moral  obli- 
gation, is  it  conscious  of  an  unfitness  and  incapacity  to 
share  and  reciprocate  the  high  moral  sympathies  of  the 
holy.     With  these  its  peerage  is  now  lost,  and  with  the 


XXIII.]  AN  INSTRUMENT   OF  PUNISHMENT.  337 

loss  of  honor  follows  a  corresponding  loss  of  happiness. 
Degraded  from  its  native  dignity ;  rejected  from  the  fel- 
lowship of  God,  and  disfranchised  from  the  community  of 
the  pure  in  heart ;  the  unhappy  soul  is  now  deprived  of 
all  extraneous  sources  of  enjoyment.  The  sun  of  his  hap- 
piness has  gone  down  "behind  the  darkened  west,"  the 
last  star  of  hope  has  faded  from  the  cheerless  heavens,  and 
shame  draws  the  curtain  of  a  solitary  night  about  him. 

"  The  flowers  and  fruits  of  love  are  gone ; 
The  worm,  the  canker,  and  the  grief, 
Are  his  alone." 

But  it  is  in  the  future  state  alone  that  these  effects  of 
sin  can  be  fully  realized.  Here  society  is  mixed.  The 
good  and  the  bad  mingle  together  in  various  relations; 
honor  and  rank  are  not  always  graduated  by  moral  cha- 
racter, nor  measured  by  the  same  standard.  Excluded 
from  one  rank,  the  individual  finds  his  level  in  another, 
and  feels  a  partial  solace  for  the  descent  in  the  sympathies 
of  those  around  him.  Defeated  on  one  ground,  he  rallies 
and  endeavors  to  build  himself  up  upon  another.  Not  so 
in  the  invisible  eternity  to  which  we  haste.  There,  society 
is  divided  into  two  great  classes — the  holy  and  the  unholy. 
No  other  separating  line  is  drawn.  There,  the  native  apti- 
tudes and  powers  of  the  soul  discover  themselves,  and  a 
correspondence  of  moral  character  will  be  the  principle  of 
association  and  the  only  basis  of  sympathy.  There  con- 
science maintains  its  natural  supremacy  over  the  mind, 
and  will  be  the  instrument  of  happiness  or  misery  as  its 
decisions  approve  or  condemn  the  life.  No  gradations  of 
society  to  suit  the  varieties  of  sinful  character — no  antago- 
nistic and  false  standards  of  honor,  to  soothe,  and  flatter, 
and  deceive  the  unholy  ;  no  compensation  is  found  in  the 
moral  sympathies  of  one  rank,  for  the  loss  of  honor  in 
another ;  no  sensual  delights  to  allure  and  to  intoxicate  ; 
but  sin  is  left  to  take  its  unmitigated  action  upon  the  un- 
sheltered soul. 

"We  have  now  traced  the  effects  of  sin  upon  the  indivi- 
dual so  far  as  it  affects  his  relations  to  other  beings.  We 
pursue  our  inquiry  but  one  step  further.  We  enter  the 
inner  temple  of  the  soul,  and  ask,  "  What  are  the  effects  of 
sin  upon  its  mysterious  frame-work  ?"  We  have  already, 
15 


338  CONSCIENCE,  [SER. 

in  part,  forestalled  the  answer ;  but  ah !  what  words  can 
adequately  describe  a  soul  in  ruins !  The  deep-hearted 
king  of  Israel  has  said,  "  The  spirit  of  a  man  will  sustain 
his  infirmity,  but  a  wounded  spirit  who  can  bear  ?"  Sin 
not  only  dismembers  the  soul  from  the  loveliest  append- 
ages of  its  being,  but  cleaves  down  to  the  earth  the  noble 
spirit  itself,  and  buries  all  its  honor  in  the  dust. 

2.  A  consciousness  of  guilt  awakens  remorse — an  emotion 
whose  distressing  effect  upon  the  mind  has  furnished  a 
theme  for  the  philosopher,  the  orator,  and  the  poet,  and  an 
object  of  appalling  dread  to  all  classes,  in  all  ages  of  the 
world.  Remorse  is  a  complex  emotion,  consisting  of  sim- 
ple regret,  and  moral  disapprobation  of  one's  self ;  in  other 
words,  it  is  moral  regret.  Regret  is  the  opposite  of  glad- 
ness, and  arises  from  the  knowledge  of  the  loss  of  some 
real  or  supposed  good.  The  strength  of  the  emotion,  and 
its  consequent  power  to  produce  distress,  will  be  propor- 
tioned to  the  value  of  the  object  whose  loss  has  occasioned 
it.  But  it  is  not  merely  the  reflection  that  heaven,  with 
all  its  loveliness,  is  now  for  ever  lost,  that  gives  strength 
and  pungency  to  the  regrets  of  the  ruined  soul.  This, 
indeed,  is  infinitely  painful,  though  it  appeals  to  no  higher 
principle  of  our  nature  than  that  of  self-interest.  But 
another  class  of  feelings  is  to  be  enlisted,  and  a  deeper 
fountain  of  sensibility  opened  in  the  guilty  breast.  It  is 
not  the  thought  of  having  acted  unwisely  for  himself  only, 
but  of  having  violated  obligation,  of  having  acted  per- 
versely and  wickedly  in  all  his  moral  relations,  that  har- 
rows the  deepest  sensibility  of  his  heart.  He  has  not 
merely  deprived  himself  of  enjoyment,  he  has  insulted  his 
Maker,  and  transgressed  the  moral  order  of  the  universe. 
The  reflection, 

"  You  knew  your  duty,  but  you  did  it  not," 

strikes  at  the  deepest  depths  of  the  moral  nature,  gives  the 
regret  the  character  of  remorse,  and  makes  perdition  no 
longer  the  mere  result  o^  place,  or  external  circumstances, 
but  of  the  state  of  the  soul.  The  seat  of  the  torment  is 
within.  Physical  condition  exerts  its  influence,  but  the 
unhappy  being  is  in  himself  wretched. 

"  Me  miserable !  which  way  shall  I  fly 
Infinite  wrath,  and  infinite  despair  1 
Which  way  I  fly  is  hell ;  myself  wca  hell !" 


XXIII.]  AN  INSTRUMENT   OF  PUNISHMENT.  339! 

The  pain  we  feel,  arising  from  disapprobation  of  an- 
other's crime,  is  mitigated  by  the  mere  distance  at  which 
it  is  removed — it  is  not  our  own  act ;  the  wrecks  of  the 
hopes  and  fortunes  of  others,  which  are  strown  around  our 
path,  though  painful  to  contemplate,  are  yet  extraneous  to 
ourselves  ;  our  personal  calamities  are  borne  with  fortitude, 
while  innocence  dwells  within ;  the  regrets  we  experience 
in  this  life  are  always  modified  by  some  alleviating  mixture, 
which  kind  Heaven  mingles  in  our  cup :  but  to  the  finally 
lost  no  element  of  relief  is  administered.  Remorse  breaks 
up  the  deep,  internal  peace  of  his  soul,  and  sweeps  a  deso- 
lating tide  over  all  the  landmarks  of  happiness.  It  is 
guilt  that  bows  the  strong  pillars  of  the  inner  temple,  and 
prostrates  the  soul  in  ruins.  No  power  of  resistance  is 
left.  Existence  gives  the  necessary  power  of  endurance, 
but  not  of  remedy.     The  soul,  grand  even  in  ruins, 

" having  leapt  from  its  more  dazzling  height, 

E'en  in  the  foaming  strength  of  its  abyss, 
Lies  low,  but  mighty  still." 

"  Think  not,"  says  Cicero,  "  that  the  guilty  require  the 
burning  torches  of  the  Furies  to  agitate  and  torment  them. 
Their  own  frauds,  their  crimes,  their  remembrance  of  the 
past,  their  terrors  of  the  future,  these  are  the  domestic 
furies  that  are  ever  present  to  the  mind  of  the  impious." 
Could  he  fly  himself,  could  he  obliterate  the  memory  of 
the  past,  could  he  forget  for  a  moment  what  he  is,  in  the 
interest  he  might  take  in  other  objects,  his  case  would  not 
be  altogether  destitute  of  relief.     But  this  can  never  be  : 

"  He  bears  his  own  tormentor  in  his  breast," 

and  that  worm  dieth  not.  The  thoughts  of  what  he  was, 
what  he  should  have  been,  what  he  is,  and  must  for  ever 
be,  haunt  him  with  unceasing  terror,  like  spectres  of  the 
injured  dead. 

"  The  keen  vibration  of  bright  truth — is  hell !" 

The  hours  of  misspent  time  now  repeat  their  solemn 
knell ;  the  neglected  mercies,  the  unheeded  admonitions, 
the  tender  sympathy  and  counsel  of  pious  friends,  the  op- 
portunities of  repentance,  the  half-formed  purpose  of  refor- 
mation— all  that  he  has  done  and  all  that  he  has  left  un- 


340  CONSCIENCE,  [8EB. 

done — now  glance  before  the  mind,  and  awaken  the  deep, 
the  last,  the  long  lament.  "  So  perish  all  thy  enemies,  O 
Jehovah !" 

"  So  do  the  dark  in  soul  expire, 
Or  live  like  scorpion  girt  by  fire ; 
So  writhes  the  mind  remorse  hath  riven, 
Unfit  for  earth,  iindoom'd  for  heaven ; 
Darkness  above,  despair  beneath, 
Around  it  flame,  within  it — death .'" 

In  conclusion  of  this  discourse  let  us  recapitulate  a  few 
of  those  practical  considerations  to  which  our  discussion 
has  led  us.     We  here  learn, 

1.  How  delusive  is  that  hope  of  future  happiness,  which, 
though  it  is  built  upon  the  natural  goodness  of  God,  mani- 
fested through  a  Mediator,  makes  no  necessary  reckoning 
of  a  holy  life.  But  it  is  not  in  the  province  of  Omnipo- 
tence to  produce  moral  happiness  in  a  polluted  soul.  Such 
happiness  in  such  a  soul  would  imply  a  contradiction. 
Omnipotence  could  change  the  mental  constitution,  but  not 
the  relation  of  sin  and  misery.  Without  moral  fitness  for 
the  place,  heaven  itself  would  lose  its  attractions — 'twould 
be  "  the  severest  part  of  hell."  Consider  this,  all  ye  that 
forget  God — ye  that  slumber  within  the  pale  of  the  Chris- 
tian church.  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they 
shall  see  God." 

2.  We  here  perceive  the  reasonableness  as  well  as  cer- 
tainty of  future  punishment.  It  would  not  become  us  to 
dogmatize  upon  any  physical  theory  of  a  future  state.  The 
Bible  says  little  here.  Yet  we  can  advance  thus  far.  We 
can  see  that  the  misery  of  the  lost  is  not  wholly  an  arbi- 
trary appointment,  but  results  in  great  measure — we 
cannot  tell  how  far — in  a  course  of  natural  consequences. 
If  our  present  existence  could  be  maintained  where  none 
of  our  bodily  senses,  our  appetites,  affections,  or  desires, 
could  meet  with  their  appropriate  objects,  and  still  operate 
with  unabated  and  ever-increasing  intensity,  it  Avould  not 
be  in  the  power  of  the  human  mind  to  conceive  the  wretch- 
edness of  such  a  state.  Yet  all  this  misery  would  result  in 
a  way  of  natural  consequences.  Nothing  would  be  super- 
added by  way  of  positive  infliction.  There  is  a  limit  to  the 
human  capacity  for  suffering,  as  well  as  for  knowledge  and 
happiness,   and  whether  the  soul  is  capable  of  enduring 


XXni.]  AN  INSTRUMENT   OF  PUNISHMENT.  341 

more  than  would  naturally  accrue  to  it  in  a  condition  the 
exact  reverse  of  that  for  which  it  was  intended,  the  Author 
of  our  constitution  alone  can  tell.  One  thing  is  certain, 
moral  punishment  is  in  accordance  with  what  we  know  of 
the  constitution  of  the  mind — is  inevitable  in  certain  moral 
conditions.  Its  extent,  which  is  solemnly  portrayed  in 
Scripture,  may  also  be  judged  of  by  the  rule  of  analogy. 
The  more  complicated  and  delicate  the  animal  system,  the 
more  serious,  and  distressing,  and  difficult  to  heal,  is  any 
violence  offered  to  its  organs.  The  higher  we  rise  in  the 
scale  of  being,  the  more  fearfiil  and  ruinous  would  be  our 
fall.  The  texture  and  powers  of  the  soul  bespeak  the 
highest  creative  wisdom.  The  necessary  law  of  all  organic 
life  applies  analogically  here.  Its  amazing  altitude  in  the 
grade  of  existence,  implies,  by  necessary  consequence,  an 
abyss  of  descent,  inversely  profound,  through  which  it 
must  inevitably  pass,  if  it  fail  to  reach  the  noble  destiny 
of  its  being. 

3.  Behold  here  the  extent  to  which  man's  moral  destiny 
is  placed  in  his  own  hands.  Happiness  results  from  right 
moral  culture ;  misery  from  neglect  and  abuse.  "  Whatso- 
ever a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap."  "  If  thou  be 
wise,  thou  shalt  be  wise  for  thyself:  but  if  thou  scomest, 
thou  alone  shalt  bear  it." 

4.  Finally,  learn  from  the  text  that  human  life  is  the 
limit  of  probation.  When  the  "  body  and  flesh  are  con- 
sumed," then,  "  at  the  last,"  bitter  regrets  arise  to  the  wick- 
ed ;  but  no  hope  of  mercy,  no  offer  of  pardon,  no  purpose 
of  repentance,  alleviates  their  distress.  "  As  the  tree  fall- 
eth,  so  it  will  lie."  "  After  death  is  the  judgment."  Sol- 
omon associates  no  hope  with  the  death-scene  of  this 
young  profligate ; 

"  Cut  off,  e'en  in  the  blossom  of  his  sins, 
No  reck'ning  made,  but  sent  to  his  account 
With  all  his  imperfections  on  his  head." 

Hearer,  art  thou  ready  for  this  account  ?  If  not,  "  now — 
now  only — is  the  accepted  time  and  day  of  salvation." 


342  CHARACTER   AND   WORK   OP  [SER. 

SERMON  XXIV. 

Cha/racter  and  Work  of  a  Minister  of  Jesus  Christ. 

BY  REV.  NATHAN  BANGS,  D.  D., 

OF   THE   NiW-YOKK   CONFERENCE. 

"  Now  then  we  axe  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  be- 
seech you  by  us  ;  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to 
God."— 2  Cor.  V,  20. 

Allowing  the  truth  of  Christianity,  it  will  follow  that 
the  character  of  a  Christian  minister  is  of  the  highest  im- 
portance to  the  welfare  of  mankind.  Without  entering 
into  an  investigation  of  its  truth,  which  would  be  out  of 
place  on  the  present  occasion,  I  will  endeavor  briefly  to 
inquire — 

I.  Into  the  character  of  a  minister  of  Christ. 

II.  Into  his  work. 

I.  In  respect  to  his  character. 

The  text  affirms  that  he  is  an  "  ambassador  for  Christ." 
An  ambassador  is  considered  of  the  highest  dignity  in  the 
state,  next  to  the  sovereign^  whose  person  and  authority  he 
is  sent  to  represent  at  a  foreign  court.  The  will  of  the  sove- 
reign is  communicated  to  his  ambassador,  and  he  is  bound 
to  regulate  his  conduct  in  his  official  intercourse  with  the 
foreign  nation  according  to  that  will.  Jesus  Christ  while 
on  the  earth  represented  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe.  He 
is  now  in  heaven,  exalted  to  the  government  of  the  world, 
and  hence  his  ministers  are  his  representatives  to  man, 
sent  by  him  to  proclaim  his  will,  to  explain  the  terms  of 
reconciliation  between  God  and  rebellious  man.  These 
remarks  will  show  the  high  character  an  ambassador  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  sustains  in  the  economy  of  God,  as 
well  as  the  importance  of  the  work  assigned  him. 

1.  It  is  essential  that  he  should  know  the  mind  and  will 
of  God.  In  order  to  this,  he  should  not  only  study  them  as  a 
theory,  but  the  truth  of  God  should  be  sealed  upon  his  con- 
science by  the  Holy  Ghost.  However  accurate  may  be 
his  theory  of  divine  truth  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  indicated  in  His  works  and  ways,  unless 
his  heart  be  made  to  feel  its  weight  and  importance,  from 


XXIV. j  A  MINISTER   OP  JESUS   CHRIST.  3l3 

an  experimental  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Saviour, 
who  has  saved  him  from  his  sins,  he  cannot  either  under- 
stand or  explain  this  truth  to  others :  "  If  the  blind  lead 
the  blind,  they  shall  both  fall  into  the  ditch."  And  until  a 
man's  understanding  is  enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
however  expanded  and  improved  his  intellect,  he  is  blind 
to  spiritual  and  divine  things ;  and  hence  he  is  incompe- 
tent to  instruct  others  in  those  lessons  of  heavenly  wisdom. 
Nor  can  human  learning,  splendid  talents,  all  the  acquire- 
ments of  human  science,  supersede  the  necessity  of  this  ex- 
perimental knowledge  of  pure  religion, — though  with  this 
experience,  this  learning,  these  talents  and  acquirements, 
may  be  made  powerfully  subservient  to  the  advancement 
of  the  cause  in  which  he  is  engaged. 

How  indeed  can  a  man  who  has  never  been  converted, 
justified,  and  sanctified,  explain  to  others  what  conversion, 
justification,  and  sanctification,  are  ?  You  might  as  well 
call  upon  a  blind  man  to  judge  of  colors,  as  to  allow  a 
blinded  sinner  to  judge  of  and  to  explain  the  nature  and 
effects  of  true  religion.  This,  then,  is  considered  an  essen- 
tial prerequisite  for  a  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

2.  But  not  every  one  who  has  been  thus  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  is  competent  to  the 
ministry  of  the  gospel.  In  addition  to  this,  he  must  be  es- 
pecially called  to  this  work  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  is 
acknowledged,  in  form,  by  nearly  aU  orthodox  churches 
under  heaven ;  while  in  practice  it  is  discarded  by  many 
as  enthusiasm.  If  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  we  shall  find  all  the  prophets  and  apostles  re- 
cognizing this  divine  call  to  the  work  in  which  they  were 
engaged ;  and  the  same  truth  is  acknowledged  in  the  for- 
mularies of  all  those  Christian  churches  which  are  consi- 
dered orthodox;  a  most  manifest  proof  this,  that  an  in- 
ward call  by  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  be  considered  as  neces- 
sary to  entitle  a  man  to  enter  into  the  ministry  of  the  Lord 
Jesus. 

He,  as  the  sovereign  of  heaven  and  earth,  claims  and 
exercises  the  right  of  selecting  his  own  "  ambassadors,"  be- 
cause he  alone  knows  who  are  the  fittest  persons  to  be 
employed  in  this  grand  and  important  work.  And  he  can 
as  easily  suggest  his  mind  to  the  heart  of  a  Christian  man, 
now,  as  he  did  to  Paul,  when  he  said  unto  him,  "  I  have 


344  CHARACTEK  AND    WORK   OF  [SER. 

appeared  unto  thee  for  this  purpose,  to  make  thee  a  min- 
ister and  witness  both  of  these  things  which  thou  hast 
seen,  and  of  those  things  in  the  which  I  will  appear  unto 
thee."  A  man  who  is  conscious  of  this  inward  call  to  the 
Christian  ministry,  feels  himself  impelled  on,  often  indeed 
with  great  reluctance,  under  a  sense  of  his  high  responsi- 
bility to  God,  his  heart  heaving  under  a  deep  conviction 
of  the  worth  of  immortal  souls ;  and  so  pressed  is  he  in 
spirit  that  he  cries  out  in  the  language  of  the  apostle, 
"  Wo  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel."  Such  a  man 
is  not  actuated  by  motives  of  ambition,  by  worldly  in- 
terests, or  to  gratify  self-love,  but  by  an  intense  desire 
to  advance  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  in  the  present  and 
eternal  salvation  of  immortal  souls.  Hence,  so  far  from 
striving  to  shine  in  the  galaxy  of  human  wisdom,  to  dis- 
play himself  in  the  exhibition  of  his  talents  in  science  and 
oratory,  he  naturally  shrinks  from  human  observation,  be- 
moans himself  before  his  God,  seeks  to  enter  into  the  se- 
crets of  the  Most  High,  to  penetrate  into  the  meaning  of 
his  word,  that  he  may  unfold  it  to  the  multitude  in  lan- 
guage plain,  simple,  and  pointed.  Such  a  man,  indeed, 
will  not  preach  "  with  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but 
in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power."  His  coun- 
tenance, his  gestures,  the  intonations  of  his  voice,  as  well  as 
the  words  of  his  lips,  will  all  declare  the  earnestness  of  his 
heart  and  the  sincerity  of  his  intention,  whenever  he  ap- 
pears "  in  that  holy  place,  the  pulpit,"  to  unfold  the  coun- 
sels of  God  to  a  fallen  world — to  beseech  sinners  "  to  be 
reconciled  to  God." 

3.  This  heartfelt  experience  of  divine  things,  and  this 
consciousness  of  God's  will  respecting  his  calling,  must  be 
accompanied  with  a  clear  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
the  plan  of  redemption  and  salvation,  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  It  would  be  preposterous  to  suppose  that  God 
would  call  a  man  to  negotiate  a  peace  between  him  and  man, 
who  did  not  understand  the  terms  of  reconciliation — who 
did  not  comprehend,  in  some  tolerable  degree,  what  He 
has  done  for  the  salvation  of  a  lost  world,  and  the  condi- 
tions on  which  this  salvation  is  to  be  obtained  and  kept. 
Is  it  to  be  supposed  that  God  would  select  a  man  to  be  his 
ambassador,  and  send  him  to  represent  him  to  a  revolted 
world,  who  could  not  understand  the  very  terms  on  which 


XXIV.]  A  MINISTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  345 

this  world  is  to  be  brought  back  to  its  allegiance  to  its 
Sovereign  ?  How  could  such  "  a  novice  "  defend  the  rights 
of  God,  explain  his  will,  and  enforce  his  demands  upon 
the  conscience  of  the  sinner  ? 

Neither  are  we  to  suppose  that  this  understanding  of  the 
will  of  God  is  communicated  by  a  miraculous  interposition. 
Though  God  undoubtedly  operates  upon  the  heart  by  his 
Holy  Spirit,  so  as  to  produce  a  consciousness  of  his  holy 
presence ;  and  though  he  most  unquestionably  calls  a  man 
to  the  work  of  the  ministry  by  the  same  Holy  Spirit ;  yet 
it  is  manifest  that  he  generally  does  all  this  through  the 
agency  of  secondary  causes ;  and  much  more  does  he 
qualify  his  ministers  by  means  of  those  ordinary  instru- 
mentalities which  are  adapted  to  produce  the  desired  result. 
If,  therefore,  a  man  would  know  the  mind  of  God,  he  must 
study  his  word,  watch  the  operation  of  his  providence,  and 
hearken  diligently  to  all  the  admonitions  which  are  afforded 
him  in  the  daily  walks  of  life.  "  Study  to  show  thyself 
approved  unto  God,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed,"  was  the  apostolic  command  to  the  evangelist. 
So  that,  in  those  days  of  plenary  inspiration,  it  was  thought 
necessary,  for  the  efficient  discharge  of  ministerial  duty,  for 
the  incumbent  to  "  study ;"  while  the  principal  object  of 
the  study  was  that  he  might  "approve  himself  to  God," 
and  not  be  ashamed  to  show  himself  to  man,  but  be  able 
"  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  truth."  How  much  more 
imperative  is  it  for  us,  who  are  blessed  with  only  the  ordi- 
nary means  of  information,  to  study  with  all  diligence,  that 
we  may  ascertain  the  will  of  God  concerning  us,  and  be 
able  so  to  propound  it  that  the  people  may  feel  its  force, 
and  be  induced  to  yield  to  its  requisitions!  A  professed 
minister,  who  so  depends  upon  divine  aid  as  to  neglect 
those  helps  which  are  within  his  reach  to  enable  him  to 
understand  the  word  of  God,  manifests  both  folly  and 
indolence,  and  proves  himself  unworthy  of  the  office  he 
holds. 

4.  He  must  not  only  understand  the  plan  of  redemption 
and  salvation,  but  he  must  be  competent  to  explain  it  to 
others.  In  order  to  this,  he  must  comprehend  the  meaning 
of  words,  and  have  that  power  of  elocution  which  will 
enable  him  to  clothe  his  thoughts  in  a  style  plain  and  easy 
■to  be  understood.  Avoiding  equally  that  pomposity  of 
15* 


346  CHARACTER  AND    WORK  OF  (SEE. 

style  which  raises  a  suspicion  of  vanity,  and  those  vulgar- 
isms which  show  a  lack  of  correct  taste — both  of  which  are 
beneath  the  dignity  and  purity  of  the  pulpit — it  will  be  his 
study  to  select  those  words  which  reflect  precisely  and 
plainly  the  ideas  he  wishes  to  communicate,  and  so  to  form 
his  style  that  his  sentences  may  flow  from  him  easily  and 
naturally,  without  any  apparent  effort  to  astonish  his  hear- 
ers with  "  swelling  words  of  vanity."  A  minister  who  per- 
ceives his  subject  clearly,  and  is  sufficient  master  of  lan- 
guage to  clothe  his  thoughts  with  appropriate  words,  will 
seldom  be  at  a  loss  to  express  himself  with  ease  and 
fluency. 

5.  As  to  human  learning,  the  more  profoundly  learned 
a  minister  of  Jesus  Chi-ist  is,  provided  he  be  blessed  with 
those  spiritual  qualifications  above  indicated,  the  more 
effectually  can  he  "  wield  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,"  the  more 
deeply  can  he  dive  into  the  ocean  of  the  Eternal  Mind, 
and  fetch  up  thence  those  gems  of  truth  which  lie  in  those 
immense  depths  of  divine  wisdom,  power,  justice,  and  good- 
ness, and  spread  them  before  his  hearers  in  all  their  spark- 
ling glories.  We  care  not,  therefore,  how  much  learning 
a  man  has,  if  it  be  only  sanctified,  and  used  in  subserviency 
to  the  great  end  of  the  Christian  ministry — namely,  the 
salvation  of  the  lost  world.  Those  who  affect  to  despise 
human  learning,  certainly  do  not  consider  how  much  they 
are  indebted  to  learned  men  for  those  civil  and  religious 
blessings  which  they  enjoy.  Are  we  thankful  to  God  for 
the  privilege  of  reading  the  sacred  Scriptures  in  our  ver- 
nacular language?  And  do  we  not  know  that  had  not 
God  raised  up  men  of  sufficient  talent,  learning,  and  in- 
dustry, to  understand  the  original  languages  in  which  these 
Scriptures  were  first  written,  and  to  translate  them  into 
our  own  language,  we  never  could  have  enjoyed  this  dis- 
tinguished privilege  ?  Next  to  pure  religion  in  the  heart, 
sound  learning,  comprehending  a  knowledge  of  the  ancient 
languages,  and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  sciences, 
is  to  be  prized.*     But  more  especially  should  a  minister 

*  I  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  classical  learning,  nor  a  regular 
theological  training,  is  essential  to  a  gospel  minister.  But  while  these 
are  excluded  as  being  essential  qualifications,  I  do  mean  to  assert  that 
no  man  is  competent  to  preach  the  gospel  without  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  theological  truth,  and  that  the  more  his  mind  is  imbued  with 


XXIV.]  A  MINISTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  347 

of  the  sanctuary  be  learned  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  in 
every  branch  of  theological  truth,  so  as  to  be  able  to  defend 
himself  against  all  his  adversaries,  to  meet  and  obviate  the 
objections  of  caviling  infidels,  and  to  remove  out  of  the  way 
of  the  sinner  every  obstruction  to  his  returning  to  God, 
that  he  may  live.  Nor  can  he  keep  up  with  the  improve- 
ments of  the  age,  the  constant  progress  of  science,  without 
a  diligent  attention  to  study — to  such  a  course  of  reading 
as  will  enable  him  to  comprehend  those  great  principles  of 
theology  which  interweave  themselves,  less  or  more,  with 
every  relation  in  life,  and  therefore  ought  to  sanctify  and 
guide  all  the  pursuits  and  actions  of  mankind  in  their  inter- 
course with  each  other.  To  avoid  error,  however  specious,  on 
its  first  appearance ;  to  disentangle  the  sophistries,  however 
plausible,  by  which  its  authors  and  advocates  attempt  its 
support ;  and  to  establish  the  truth  on  the  firm  basis  of  im- 
mutable principles,  will  require  no  small  degree  of  assiduous 
appUcation  of  the  mental  powers,  and  a  careful  analysis  of 
the  various  systems  and  theories  which  may  be  broached. 
And  he  who  flatters  himself  that  he  is  adequate  to  this 
task  without  attention  to  close  study  and  diligent  observa- 
tion, betrays  thereby  the  want  of  that  very  learning  and 
information  we  are  recommending,  and  which  are  necessary 
to  a  successful  discharge  of  his  duty.  The  fountain  must 
be  constantly  supplied,  or  it  will  soon  become  dry  from 
continual  draining.  So  the  mind  must  be  fed  continually, 
or  it  will  become  barren  and  unfruitful,  not  only  for  want 
of  food  suited  to  its  nature,  but  also  for  lack  of  that  exer- 
cise which  is  essential  to  the  vigorous  development  of  its 
energies. 

6.  But  with  all  these  helps  to  a  right  understanding  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  and  to  a  successful  prosecution  of  his  high 
calling,  he  will  fail  to  accomplish  the  end  of  his  ministry, 
unless  he  live  in  God — unless  he  can  say,  with  the  great 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  "  I  live ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth 
in  me ;  and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live 
by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  him- 
self for  me."  Without  this  constant  communion  with  God, 
through  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  however  deep  and  accu- 
rate may  be  our  theological  researches,  and  however  elo- 

learning  and  science  in  general,  the  more  competent  will  he  be  to 
explain  and  defend  the  truth  of  God. 


348  CHARACTER  AND    WORK   OF  [SER. 

quently  we  may  deliver  our  discourses,  we  shall  be  but  a 
"  sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal ;"  our  sermons  will 
be  dry  and  insipid ;  and  though  the  understanding  of  the 
hearer  may  be  delighted  and  the  imagination  charmed, 
the  heart  will  remain  unaffected;  and  though  he  may 
return  home  admiring  the  preacher,  he  will  form  no  re- 
solves to  live  more  than  ever  devoted  to  God  in  heart  and 
life.  This  breathing  of  the  soul  to  God — this  constant 
exercise  of  faith  and  prayer — this  moving  and  walking  in 
God,  is  essential  to  a  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  If  he 
would  lead  others  forward  in  the  divine  life,  he  must  be 
careful  to  "grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;"  if  he  would  induce  believers  to  "  go 
on  to  perfection,"  he  must  be  able  to  instruct  them  in  the 
nature  of  this  "  perfect  love "  from  his  own  experience, 
otherwise  he  will  be  incompetent  to  "  speak  of  those  things 
which  he  knows."  If  we  would  have  a  holy  people,  we 
must  have  a  holy  ministry.  The  minister  must  go  before 
the  people,  and  then  he  can  say,  "  Follow  me,  as  I  follow 
Christ." 

Besides,  this  is  essential  to  enable  him  to  speak  in  "the 
demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  and  with  power."  There  is  a 
peculiar  power,  "an  unction  from  the  Holy  One,"  attend- 
ing the  ministrations  of  a  man  who  "  walks  in  the  Spirit," 
so  that  whenever  he  speaks  in  the  name  of  God,  his  "doc- 
trine shall  drop  as  the  rain,  and  his  speech  shall  distill  as 
the  dew,  as  the  small  rain  upon  the  tender  herb,  and  as  the 
showers  upon  the  grass."  Whenever  such  an  ambassador 
of  Clirist  speaks,  God  attends  his  word  with  the  energies 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  people  of  God  feel  its  power  in 
their  inmost  souls,  they  are  thereby  refreshed  and  invigo- 
rated, and  "rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God;"  while 
sinners  are  often  made  to  fear  and  tremble,  in  the  presence 
of  that  God,  whose  awful  majesty  this  minister  unfolds. 
This  living  in  God,  acting  continually  under  the  influence 
of  his  Spirit,  will  also  tend  to  furnish  the  mind  with  suita- 
ble subjects,  will  qualify  the  minister  to  understand  the 
mind  of  God  more  clearly  than  he  otherwise  could ;  to  pene- 
trate deeper  into  the  meaning  of  Holy  Scripture ;  and  thus 
teach  him  how  to  suit  himself  more  perfectly  to  times  and 
circumstances,  so  that  he  can  be  always  ready  "  to  rebuke, 


XXIV.]  A  MINISTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  349 

exhort,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  with  all  long-suffering 
and  doctrine." 

How  forcible  and  apposite  are  the  words  of  Luther, 
which  he  addressed  to  Spalatin,  who  had  requested  him 
to  give  him  the  best  method  of  studying  the  Scriptures ! 

"  It  is  plain,"  says  Luther,  "  we  cannot  attain  to  the 
understanding  of  Scripture  either  by  study  or  the  strength 
of  intellect.  Therefore  your  first  duty  must  be  to  begin 
with  prayer.  Entreat  the  Lord  to  deign  to  grant  you,  in 
his  rich  mercy,  rightly  to  understand  his  word.  There  is 
no  other  interpreter  of  God's  word  but  the  Author  of  that 
word  himself;  even  as  he  has  said,  '  They  shall  be  taught 
of  God.'  Hope  nothing  from  your  study,  or  the  strength 
of  your  intellect ;  but  simply  put  your  trust  in  God,  and  in 
the  guidance  of  his  Spirit.  Believe  one  who  has  made 
trial  of  this  method." 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  Luther  meant  to  discour- 
age his  friend  from  a  diligent  study,  any  more  than  from  a 
vigorous  exercise,  of  his  intellectual  powers,  for  this  would 
be  contrary  to  the  whole  course  of  his  life  ;  but  simply 
that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  nor  yet  both  together, 
would  supersede  the  necessity  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  open 
the  meaning  of  God's  word,  and  more  especially  to  enable 
the  minister  rightly  to  apply  it  to  the  various  cases  and 
circumstances  of  those  to  whom  he  may  be  called  upon  to 
administer  the  word  of  life.  This,  then,  above  all  other 
things,  is  essential  to  a  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  feel 
that  he  is  united  to  God  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  he  may 
"  receive  the  law  at  his  mouth,"  and  proclaim  it  with  fresh- 
ness and  fullness  unto  the  people. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Jesus  Christ  promised  to  be 
with  his  ministers  "  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 
This  promise,  however,  is  to  be  limited  in  its  application  to 
his  true  ministers,  to  those  who  have  been  called  and  sent 
out  by  himself,  whom  he  has  "anointed  to  preach  the 
gospel,"  and  in  whom  dwells  the  Holy  Spirit.  With  such, 
and  only  such,  is  he  always  present,  to  enlighten,  to  guide, 
and  to  comfort  them.  He  will  fill  them  "  with  peace  and 
joy  in  believing,"  and  they  shall  never  be  left  to  contend 
alone,  so  that  "no  weapon  that  is  formed  against  them 
shall  prosper,  and  every  tongue  that  riseth  in  judgment 


350  CHARACTER  AND   WORK  OF  [SER. 

against  them  will  he  condemn."  This  heritage  have  those 
ministers  from  their  Lord,  and  he  will  never  suffer  them 
to  be  confounded  by  their  adversaries.  The  word  that 
they  speak  shall  accomplish  that  whereunto  it  is  sent. 

7.  I  need  hardly  add  that  ministers  must  be  men  of 
prayer.  This  has  been  supposed  in  all  that  has  been  said. 
A  holy  man  is  a  praying  man ;  and  a  man  cannot  live  by 
faith  in  Christ,  walk  with  God,  and  hold  communion  with 
him,  without  constant  prayer  and  watchfulness.  And  of 
all  men  in  the  world,  the  minister  of  the  sanctuary  has  the 
most  need  to  "  pray  without  ceasing."  Such  a  one  will 
"  wrestle  in  the  mighty  strength  of  prayer,"  that  he  may 
be  "  endowed  with  power  from  on  high,"  and  be  able  to 
"  withstand  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  devil." 

That  these  holy  and  indefatigable  ministers  will  have 
enemies,  visible  and  invisible,  to  contend  with,  is  abund- 
antly manifest.  They  who  are  sent  in  the  name  of  the 
Sovereign  of  heaven  and  earth,  to  proclaim  war  against 
the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  to  vindicate  the  rights 
of  God  against  the  invasions  of  his  grand  adversary,  must 
expect  to  meet  with  opposition  from  the  combined  powers 
of  earth  and  hell,  and  thus  to  expose  themselves  to  the 
shafts  of  those  cruel  enemies  of  God  and  man.  How  are 
they  to  defend  themselves  ?  "  Greater  is  He  that  is  for 
them  than  he  that  is  against  them."  But  he  has  promised 
to  defend  them  only  on  condition  of  their  confiding  in  him, 
of  their  fleeing  to  him  for  succor  by  faith  and  prayer.  But 
he  has  promised  to  give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask 
him.  Hence  the  necessity  of  unceasing  prayer  for  the 
constant  aid  of  this  Holy  Spirit,  that  he  may  help  our  in- 
firmities, illuminate  our  understandings,  sanctify  our  affec- 
tions, and  bless  the  labor  of  our  heads  and  hearts  in  the 
cause  in  which  we  are  engaged. 

Thus,  then,  we  have  the  character  of  the  true  minister 
of  the  sanctuary.  He  has  been  genuinely  converted  to  God  ; 
called  to  his  work  by  the  Head  of  the  church  ;  understands 
the  plan  of  redemption  and  salvation ;  improves  his  mind 
by  continual  study  and  observation ;  lives  and  walks  in 
daily  communion  with  God  by  a  lively  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  if  he  has  not  yet  attained  to  the  blessing  of 
perfect  love,  is  groaning  after  it ;  and  is  kept,  in  answer 
to    unceasing    prayer,  by  the    power    of    God,   through 


XXIV.]  A  MINISTER  OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  351 

faith,  unto  salvation.  Such  a  person  is  surely  qualified  to 
stand  before  the  people  as  God's  ambassador,  and,  if  duly 
consecrated,  is  authorized  to  administer  all  the  ordinances 
of  God's  house. 

Having  ascertained  the  character  of  the  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ,  let  us, 

II.  Inquire  into  his  work. 

The  text  says,  it  is  to  beseech  sinners,  in  Christ's  stead, 
to  be  reconciled  to  God.  And  what  a  work  is  this !  He 
stands  before  the  world  as  God's  accredited  ambassador, 
clothed  with  authority  by  Jesus  Christ  himself,  to  propose 
unto  mankind  the  terms  on  which  they  who  are  "  enemies 
to  God  by  wicked  works"  may  become  reconciled,  and 
thereby  be  taken  into  a  covenant  union  with  him.  In 
doing  this,  however,  they  are  not  at  liberty  to  propose 
terms  of  their  own  invention,  or  to  alter  or  soften  down 
those  which  God  has  prescribed.  As  an  ambassador  is 
obliged  to  observe  scrupulously  the  instructions  which  are 
given  him  by  the  head  of  the  government  he  represents, 
so  he  who  is  sent  by  the  Head  and  Governor  of  the  uni- 
verse to  represent  him  in  this  lower  world,  is  bound  by  the 
instructions  given  him  in  God's  sacred  word,  in  all  his 
intercourse  with  his  rebellious  subjects — ^not  being  allowed 
to  accommodate  himself  to  the  whims,  prejudices,  or  foolish 
pride  of  those  with  whom  he  is  sent  to  treat. 

Observe  the  language  of  the  text :  "  We  pray  you  in 
Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  He  does  not 
say,  "  I  pray  God  be  reconciled  to  you."  The  apostle  had 
before  declared,  that  "  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the 
world  unto  himself."  Everything  has  been  done  on  the 
part  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  the  lost.  Indeed,  he  was 
ever  moved  toward  man  by  love.  Love  moved  him  to 
send  Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  "  propitiation  for  our  sins,  and 
not  for  ours  only,  but  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world." 
"  God  so  loved  " — not  hated — "  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only-begotten  Son."  "  We  love  him  because  he  first  loved 
us."  "  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he 
loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins."  The  whole  scheme  of  redemption  originated  from 
God's  eternal  and  unbounded  love  to  a  fallen  world.  This 
led  him  to  devise  and  execute  this  grand  system  for  the 
salvation  of  sinners ;  and  all  that  remains  to  give  it  effect 


352  CHARACTER  AND    WORK  OF  [SER. 

is  for  sinners  to  accept  of  it  upon  the  terms  prescribed. 
The  moment  they  do  this,  the  reconciling  "  love  of  God  is 
shed  abroad  in  their  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  There 
is,  therefore,  no  want  of  a  disposition  in  God  to  save  even 
the  vilest  of  sinners.  The  sacrifice  has  been  offered  and 
accepted  by  God.  "  All  things  are  now  ready."  The 
feast  is  prepared,  the  doors  are  opened,  and  the  servants, 
the  ambassadors,  are  sent  out  to  invite  the  famishing  sons 
and  daughters  of  men  to  come  in,  that  they  may  eat  and 
live.  These  high  and  distinguished  truths  the  ambassador 
is  commissioned  to  declare,  promptly  and  plainly  ;  to  en- 
force them  by  all  those  motives  arising  from  the  free  and 
boundless  love  of  God  to  a  lost  world,  and  in  his  name  to 
beseech  sinners  to  be  reconciled  to  God  on  the  terms  of 
the  gospel.  What  are  these  terms  ?  They  are  "  repent- 
ance toward  God,  and  faith  toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

1.  Repentance.  The  necessity  of  this  is  founded  upon 
the  indisputable  fact,  that  all  mankind  have  done  wrong — 
have  "  all  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God." 
They  have  sinned  unnecessarily  and  voluntarily,  and  there- 
fore it  is  but  reasonable  that  they  should  repent.  And 
this  repentance  includes  a  godly  sorrow  for  sin,  a  desire 
and  determination  to  forsake  it,  and  thus  to  be  reconciled 
to  this  part  of  the  requirement  of  Almighty  God. 

2.  Faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  presents 
Christ  as  the  proper  object  of  the  penitent  sinner's  faith. 
He  is  revealed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  having  atoned 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  and  therefore  is  set  forth 
to  the  penitent  sinner's  mind  as  Ms  Saviour,  as  having 
died  for  him,  and  as  now  interceding  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father  for  Mm,  and  hence  is  noiv  able  and  willing  to 
"  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come  unto  God  by  him." 
Herein  is  founded  the  grand  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  gos- 
pel, namely,  justijication  hy  grace,  through  faith  in  the 
atoning  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ.  As  there  is  "  no  other 
name  under  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  may 
be  saved,"  so  there  is  no  other  medium  through  which  this 
salvation  can  be  received  besides  faith.  "  Being  justified 
by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  Neither  our  prayers,  our  penitential  tears  and 
groans,  our  almsgiving,  our  vows  of  amendment,  can  avail 
anything  to  our  justification  without  an  application  of  the 


XXIV.]  A  MINISTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  353 

blood  of  Christ  through  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit; 
and  this  is  to  be  apprehended  and  received  by  faith  alone 
— such  a  belief  as  takes  God  at  his  word  when  he  says, 
"  I  will ;  be  thou  clean." 

3.  Now  the  great  work  of  the  minister  is,  to  persuade 
sinners  to  be  reconciled  to  this  method  of  salvation.  They 
will  resort  to  a  thousand  objections,  in  order  to  excuse 
themselves  from  submitting  to  these  terms  of  reconcilia- 
tion. And  the  skill  of  the  minister  is  exemplified  in  obvi- 
ating these  objections,  in  stripping  the  sinner  of 

"  Every  plea  beside, 
Lord,  I  am  damn'd, 
But  Christ  hath  died." 

In  order  to  this  he  must  point  the  arrows  of  truth  to  his 
conscience,  and  make  him  feel  his  wretchedness ;  and  when 
he  has  succeeded  in  doing  this,  he  must  then  "  beseech " 
him  "  to  be  reconciled  to  God,"  by  casting  himself,  by  a 
simple  act  of  faith,  as  a  helpless,  condemned  culprit,  upon 
the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  If  he  finds  him  slow 
to  believe,  dilatory  in  seeking  for  "  redemption  in  the  blood 
of  Christ,"  he  must  urge  him  forward  by  every  considera- 
tion of  judgment  and  mercy,  and  exhort  him  to  make  haste 
to  "  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come."  Nor  must  the  minister 
leave  this  trembling  sinner  until  he  finds  him  safely  shel- 
tered in  the  arms  of  the  Redeemer's  love — until  he  throws 
himself  by  faith  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
When  he  does  this,  it  may  be  said  of  him,  "  It  is  God  that 
justifies.     Who  is  he  that  condemneth?" 

4.  So  far  all  is  well.  But  the  work  of  the  minister  is 
not  yet  done.  This  believing,  justified  sinner,  is  to  be 
"  built  up  in  his  most  holy  faith."  The  "  roots  of  bitter- 
ness "  which  remain  in  his  heart  must  be  eradicated,  and 
then  his  heart  must  be  filled  with  "perfect  love."  He 
must  be  exhorted  to  "  go  on  to  perfection."  Nor  may  he 
stop  short  of  the  height,  and  depth,  and  length,  of  the  love 
of  God.  In  order  to  this,  he  must  be  taught  the  necessity 
of  "  laying  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  so  easily 
besets  him" — of  running  the  "race  which  is  set  before 
him."  All  this  must  be  fully  and  plainly  presented  to 
him,  as  freely  guarantied  to  him  in  the  gospel  of  his  salva- 
tion, and  even  now  graciously  offered  to  his  acceptance  on 
the  simple  terms  of  his  believing  in  Christ  "  with  the  heart 


354  CHARACTER  AND   WORK   OF  [SER, 

unto  righteousness."  And  as  all  this  enters  into  God's  plan 
of  salvation,  so,  to  be  fully  reconciled  unto  him,  it  must  be 
entirely  and  willingly  submitted  to,  that  the  believing  sin- 
ner may  "  inherit  the  promises." 

5.  I  have  not  space  to  enumerate  all  the  various  parts 
of  the  work  of  a  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  is  "  set 
for  the  defense  of  the  gospel,"  and  who  is  required  to  be  a 
"  wise  and  faithful  steward  over  the  household  "  of  God. 
The  necessity  of  watching  over  the  flock  which  has  been 
committed  to  his  care  will  constantly  press  itself  upon  his 
mind;  and  so  tremendous  will  his  responsibility  appear, 
that  it  will  absorb  his  whole  time  and  attention,  and  propel 
him  forward  in  the  assiduous  discharge  of  every  duty, 
public  and  private,  whether  of  a  ministerial,  pastoral,  or 
disciplinary  character.  As  a  Methodist  minister,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  public  duties  in  the  pulpit  every  sabbath,  and 
frequently  on  the  week-days,  he  has  societies  to  regulate, 
classes  to  meet,  love-feasts  to  attend,  missionary  and  other 
societies  to  superintend,  the  sick  to  visit,  funerals  to  attend, 
and  marriages  to  celebrate,  as  well  as  baptisms  and  the 
Lord's  supper  to  administer.  While  some  of  these  duties 
are  common  to  all  ministers  of  the  gospel,  of  every  order, 
there  are  others  peculiar  to  a  Methodist,  and  which  cannot 
be  dispensed  with  without  incurring  censure.  Surely  these 
onerous  duties  are  sufficient  to  occupy  all  his  time,  to  exer- 
cise all  his  talent,  and  to  try  all  his  graces,  that  he  may 
discharge  them  with  fidelity  and  success.  He  who  has 
taken  upon  himself  the  important  trust  implied  in  his  being 
an  ambassador  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  can  spend  his  moments 
in  inactivity,  in  idle  recreation,  or  in  cracking  his  jokes 
with  the  facetious  witling,  will  have  an  awful  account  to 
give  when  the  Lord  "  shall  make  inquisition  for  blood." 

6.  As  I  said  at  the  commencement  of  this  discourse,  a 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ  sustains  one  of  the  highest,  if  not, 
indeed,  the  very  highest,  characters  a  mortal  man  can  sus- 
tain. He  stands  as  the  representative  of  God,  occupying 
the  place  of  Jesus  Christ,  charged  with  the  awful  message 
of  life  and  death,  the  terms  of  which  he  is  bound  to  pro- 
pose, to  explain,  and  to  enforce,  with  all  the  power  of  eter- 
nal truth,  and  to  "  beseech "  sinners,  wath  all  those  argu- 
ments derived  from  the  authority  of  God,  and  with  those 
eloquent  appeals  to  their  consciences,  which  an  intense 


XXIV.]  A  MINISTER  OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  355 

desire  for  their  salvation  can  inspire,  "  to  be  reconciled  to 
God."  Should  he  then  betray  his  trust,  by  neglecting  any 
of  those  means  which  are  necessary  to  qualify  him  for  a 
successful  discharge  of  his  duty,  he  will  be  illy  prepared  to 
give  a  joyful  account  to  the  Sovereign  who  sent  him  on 
this  important  embassy. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  discharge  their  high  trust 
with  fidelity  shall  be  finally  made  "rulers  over  many 
cities."  What  a  motive  does  this  consideration  present  to 
the  minister  to  be  faithful  over  the  comparatively  few 
things  which  have  been  committed  to  his  trust !  "  And 
they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  fir- 
mament, and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  as  the 
stars  for  ever  and  ever." 

The  language  of  the  heart  of  such  a  minister  may  be 
expressed  in  the  following  lines,  which,  for  poetical  excel- 
lence, evangelical  sentiment,  firm  resolution,  and  strong, 
vigorous  faith,  are  not  surpassed  in  the  English  language : 

"  Ten  thousand  snares  my  paths  beset, 
Yet  will  I,  Lord,  the  work  complete 

Which  thou  to  me  hast  given  ; 
Regardless  of  the  pains  I  feel, 
Close  by  the  gates  of  death  and  hell, 
I  urge  my  way  to  heaven. 

"  Still  will  I  strive,  and  labor  still, 
With  humble  zeal  to  do  thy  will, 

And  trust  in  thy  defense ; 
My  soul  into  thy  hands  I  give, 
And  if  he  can  obtain  thy  leave, 
Let  Satan  pluck  me  hence." 

7.  I  feel  the  importance  of  this  subject.  I  would,  there- 
fore, press  it  upon  the  hearer's  attention  and  heart,  with 
all  becoming  earnestness. 

One  of  the  greatest  curses  which  ever  came  upon  the 
church,  was  the  introduction  of  carnal,  blind,  unconverted, 
and,  of  course,  unholy  and  immoral  ministers,  into  the  sacred 
office.  Not  understanding  the  way  of  life  themselves,  be- 
cause they  were  never  enlightened  by  the  "  Spirit  of  truth," 
they  were  unqualified  to  teach  it  to  others.  These  men, 
entering  into  the  ministry  from  the  same  unhallowed  mo- 
tive that  actuates  men  of  the  world  in  their  secular  pur- 
suits, namely,  that  they  may  "  eat  a  morsel  of  bread,"  have 
contributed  to  obscure  the  peculiar  glories  of  Christianity 


356  CHARACTER  AND  WORK  OF  A  MINISTER.         [SER. 

and  of  the  Christian  character,  have  introduced  a  variety 
of  corruptions,  and  shaped  the  external  features  of  the 
church  after  the  fashion  of  the  civil  institutions  of  the  land ; 
and  thus  the  church  has,  at  different  times,  been  more  dis- 
tinguished by  its  external  pomp  and  splendor,  than,  as  it 
should  have  been,  by  its  internal  glories,  the  spiritual 
purity  of  its  members  and  ministers.  Read  the  history 
of  the  church,  and  even  now  look  abroad  upon  the  Chris- 
tian world  for  evidences  of  the  truth  of  these  remarks. 

How  shall  we  guard  against  these  evils  ?  Doubtless  by 
keeping  the  ministry  pure.  Not  only  by  keeping  out 
those  who  have  never  been  called  and  qualified  by  God 
himself,  but  also  by  carefully  guarding  against  that  back- 
sliding of  heart  by  which  the  Christian  minister  gradually 
loses  the  spirit  of  his  station,  becomes  careless  respecting 
his  spiritual  enjoyments,  and  slides,  perhaps  almost  imper- 
ceptibly, into  the  spirit  and  false  maxims  of  the  world. 
Whenever  this  is  the  case,  he  will  be  more  solicitous  to 
please  men  than  God,  more  anxious  to  be  esteemed  for  his 
greatness  than  for  his  goodness,  and  much  more  scrupulous 
for  the  shadow,  the  mere  forms  of  godliness,  than  he  is  for 
its  substance  or  its  power. 

O,  if  all  the  professed  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  were 
truly  holy,  exemplifying  the  spirit  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try in  their  tempers  and  conduct,  and  were  earnestly  en- 
gaged in  proclaiming,  with  the  "  Holy  Ghost  sent  down 
from  heaven,"  the  "  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,"  what  a 
rapid  spread  of  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  should  we 
behold !  Surely  the  earth  would  speedily  be  "  filled  with 
the  knowledge  of  God,"  and  all  the  world  would  bow  to 
the  sceptre  of  Jesus  Christ.  Such  ministers  can  feelingly 
adopt  the  following  lines : — 

"  Give  me  the  faith  which  can  remove 

And  sink  the  mountain  to  a  plain ; 
Give  me  the  childlike,  praying  love, 

Which  longs  to  huild  thy  house  again ; 
Thy  love,  let  it  my  heart  o'erpower, 
And  all  my  simple  soul  devour. 

"  Enlarge,  inflame,  and  fill  my  heart, 

With  boundless  charity  divine  ! 
So  shall  I  all  my  strength  exert, 

And  love  them  with  a  zeal  like  thine, 
And  lead  them  to  thy  open  side, 
The  sheep  for  whom  the  Shepherd  died  " 


XXV.]  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  A  BISHOP.  357 

SERMON  XXV. 

The  Office  and  Work  of  a  Christian  Bishop,* 

BY  REV.  P.  P.  SANDFORD, 

OF   THE    NEW-YORK   CONFERENCE. 

"  Remember  them  which  have  the  rule  over  you,  who  have  spoken 
unto  you  the  word  of  God ;  whose  faith  follow,  considering  the  end 
of  their  conversation ;  Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day, 
and  for  ever." — Heb.  xiii,  7,  8. 

"  Who  had  the  rule  over  you."  "Wesley  and  Coke.  "  Who  have 
been  your  spiritual  guides."  Dr.  Heylin.  These  learned  critics,  with 
Theodoret,  Dr.  M'Knight,  and  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  all  agree  in  applying 
the  text  to  deceased  Christian  ministers. 

My  beloved  friends,  we  are  called  together  this  evening 
to  pay  a  tribute  of  respect  to  one  of  our  distinguished 
spiritual  guides — one  of  our  fathers  in  Israel,  who  for  se- 
veral years  past  has  gone  in  and  out  before  the  whole 
church — the  venerated  Robert  R.  Roberts ;  for  some  time 
the  senior  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  By 
the  request  of  my  brethren  in  the  ministry  in  this  city,  it 
has  devolved  upon  me,  on  the  present  occasion,  to  attempt 
some  improvement  of  the  mournful  event  which  has  re- 
moved him  from  our  society,  and  numbered  him  among  the 
silent  dead.  Under  these  circumstances  I  cannot  but  deeply 
regret  the  want  of  information  concerning  the  history  of 
the  bishop's  life,  especially  of  his  early  life,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances attendant  on  his  death  ;  as  no  documents  ai'e 
in  my  possession  relating  to  him,  except  the  Minutes  of 
Annual  Conferences,  and  a  brief  notice  of  his  death  com- 
municated through  the  medium  of  the  Western  Christian 
Advocate,  published  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Were  I  ever  so 
competent,  therefore,  to  do  justice  to  my  subject  when  in 
possession  of  the  necessary  information,  I  must  necessarily 
fail  to  do  so  under  the  present  circumstances.  Still,  we 
may  receive  instruction  from  the  event  itself;  as  every 
instance  of  human  mortality  is  calculated  to  teach  us  that 

*  A  funeral  discourse  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of 
Bishop  Roberts,  in  the  Bedford-street  M.  E.  church,  New- York  city, 
in  the  month  of  April,  1843. 


358  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  A  BISHOP.  [SER. 

we  too  are  mortal — that  life  is  held  by  us  upon  a  very- 
precarious  tenure ;  and  that,  therefore,  it  is  our  only  true 
wisdom  to  prepare  for  death,  and  our  eternal  state.  "  Our 
fathers,  where  are  they  ?  And  the  prophets,  do  they  live 
for  ever  ?"    No,  brethren, — 

'•  The  tall,  the  wise,  the  reverend  head, 
Must  lie  as  low  as  ours." 

This  leader  in  our  Israel,  this  ruler  of  the  church,  this 
guide  of  our  souls,  is  gone  down  to  the  house  appointed 
for  all  the  living.  We  shall  hear  his  voice  of  authority 
and  instruction  no  more.  No  more  will  he  stand  at  the 
head  of  our  spiritual  army,  or  lead  the  soldiers  of  the  cross 
of  Christ  to  battle,  to  war,  and  to  conquest,  over  our  spi- 
ritual enemies. 

But  I  must  recall  your  attention  to  the  text.  From  the 
remarks  already  made,  it  will  be  seen,  that,  in  the  opinion 
of  several  of  the  wisest,  most  learned,  and  best  of  men,  the 
text  refers  to  our  deceased  spiritual  guides  or  pastors ; 
and,  therefore,  as  our  deceased  bishop  was  a  general  pas- 
tor over  the  whole  of  our  branch  of  the  Christian  church, 
the  subject  may  be  legitimately  applied  to  him,  and  to 
those  who,  like  him,  have  sustained  this  important  relation 
to  our  spiritual  Zion.  In  this  view,  therefore,  I  purpose 
to  consider  it  in  the  present  discourse. 

I.  The  OFFICE  and  work  of  a  christian  bishop. 

1.  The  office  of  a  bishop,  in  its  essential  character,  is 
that  of  a  Christian  minister.  A  Christian  minister  should 
be  acquainted  with  experimental  religion  ;  as  nothing  short 
of  an  experience  of  the  grace  of  God,  in  Christ  Jesus,  can 
qualify  a  man  to  instruct  and  guide  his  fellow-creatures  in 
the  way  of  eternal  life.  But  this  experimental  knowledge 
of  God,  however  important  it  may  be,  is  not  of  itself  suflS- 
cient  to  authorize  any  man  to  assume  this  office  ;  neither 
will  human  learning,  however  extensive ;  nor  human  elo- 
quence, however  great ;  nor  any  authority  derived  merely 
from  man,  confer  the  right  to  exercise  the  functions  of 
this  sacred  office.  No  man  can  legitimately  assume  this 
office  unless  he  be  expressly  commissioned  from  on  high. 
It  is  the  exclusive  prerogative  of  the  great  Head  of  the 
church  himself  to  make  a  Christian  minister.  This  doc- 
trine is  recognized  by  all  those  churches  which  have  any 


XXV.]  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  A  BISHOP.  359 

legitimate  claim  to  be  considered  evangelical,  or  true 
churches  of  Christ,  as  is  evident  from  the  fact,  that  they 
all  require  their  candidates  for  the  sacred  office  to  profess 
their  firm  persuasion  that  they  are  "  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  take  upon  themselves  this  office  and  ministry." 
The  church  cannot  make  ministers  for  itself;  neither  can 
the  ministers  or  bishops  of  the  church,  of  any  order,  confer 
the  necessary  authority.  All  that  the  church,  its  ministers, 
and  bishops,  can  do  in  the  premises,  is,  to  give  their  attesta- 
tion to  the  fact,  that  the  person  professing  to  be  called  of 
God  to  the  office  of  the  Christian  ministry  is  truly  called 
of  God  to  this  office.  And  it  is  agreeable  both  to  reason 
and  Scripture,  that  all  persons  assuming  that  they  are  thus 
called  of  God,  should  give  such  evidence  of  the  validity 
of  their  call  to  the  church  and  its  ministry,  as  to  obtain 
their  testimony  in  their  favor ;  and  also  that  the  church 
and  ministers  with  whom  any  person  wishes  to  be  asso- 
ciated in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  sacred  office, 
in  presenting  their  testimony  in  his  favor,  should  give 
sufficient  public  attestation  to  this  conviction,  to  render 
him  a  duly  accredited  minister  of  the  gospel.  Hence,  in 
the  apostolic,  and  every  succeeding  age  of  the  church,  this 
has  been  done  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  persons 
who  were  themselves  duly  accredited  ministers  of  Christ. 
Strictly  speaking,  there  are  but  two  orders  of  the  Christian 
ministry ;  namely,  deacons  and  elders ;  the  latter  only 
being  invested  with  the  full  powers  of  the  Christian  min- 
istry. The  pastoral  authority,  in  any  branch  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  exists  in  the  body  of  presbyters  or  elders. 
But,  nevertheless,  the  body  of  elders  may,  when  they  find 
it  expedient  so  to  do,  for  prudential  reasons,  elevate  one 
or  more  of  their  number  to  the  office  of  a  general  pastor, 
or  superintendent,  over  the  whole  body,  both  lay  and 
clerical,  and  invest  such  elevated  persons  with  supreme 
jurisdiction  over  the  individual  members  and  ministers  of 
the  church,  including  the  exclusive  right  of  ordination,  for 
the  time  being,  but  holding  them  accountable  to  the  whole 
body  of  elders  for  the  due  performance  of  their  official 
duties,  and  for  their  ministerial  and  Christian  conduct. 
The  persons  thus  elevated  are  emphatically  the  superin- 
tendents or  bishops  of  the  whole  of  that  Christian  commu- 
nity.    Now,  as  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  "  obey  them 


360  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  A  BISHOP.  [SER. 

that  have  the  spiritual  rule  over  them,"  that  is,  their 
ministers  who  hold  the  relation  of  pastors  to  them ;  so  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  ministers  and  members  of  the  church  to 
obey,  or  submit  themselves  to  the  legitimate  spiritual  con- 
trol of  these  general  pastors  or  bishops,  while  they  keep 
within  the  limits  of  their  delegated  authority. 

On  the  principle  stated  above  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  founded ;  and  from  this  source  the  authority  of 
the  bishops  of  this  church  is  derived.  Here,  therefore,  we 
may  learn  the  nature  of  the  episcopal  otfice,  as  it  exists 
among  ourselves.  Now,  however  it  may  be  with  those 
churches  whose  ministers  are  settled  among  the  people  of 
a  single  congregation  for  a  course  of  years,  or  during  life, 
no  church  whose  ministry  is  generally  itinerant  could 
dispense  with  such  an  episcopacy  in  fact,  though  they  may 
not  have  it  in  form :  and,  in  our  estimation,  an  itinerant 
ministry,  or  a  ministry  which  is  missionary  in  its  character, 
is  essential  to  the  healthful  condition  of  the  Christian 
church,  and  the  extension  of  pure  Christianity  in  the 
world.  Our  brethren  of  the  Wesleyan  Church  in  Europe, 
though  they  have  not  an  episcopacy  in  form,  have  one  in 
fact,  and  ever  have  had  it  among  them,  in  as  efficient 
operation  as  we  have  in  this  country.  Hence,  our  vene- 
rable brother,  Rev.  Robert  Newton,  when  in  this  country, 
observed  in  the  presence  of  our  General  Conference,  "  Our 
president  never  dies."  Their  president  is  elected  by  the 
conference  annually,  and  continues  in  office  till  another  is 
chosen  to  succeed  him  ;  and  during  his  term  of  office  is,  in 
fact,  an  efficient  bishop  of  their  church,  possessing  as 
much,  and,  in  some  respects,  even  more,  authority  than  our 
bishops. 

2.    Their  icorL 

The  office  of  a  bishop  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
is  no  sinecure.  Our  bishops  are  not  lords  or  masters  over 
the  church  ;  they  are  its  servants ;  they  possess  no  legis- 
lative authority ;  no  power  to  make  or  veto  the  rules  by 
which  either  the  church  or  themselves  are  governed.  All 
the  power  they  have,  in  this  respect,  consists  in  presiding 
in  the  General  Conference,  and  recommending  to  that 
body  such  measures  as  they  desire  them  to  take  into  con- 
sideration. Their  authority,  as  bishops,  is  exclusively 
executive  and  judiciary  ;  in  addition  to  which  their  powers 


XXV.]  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  A  BISHOP.  361 

as  Christian  ministers  are  the  same  as  those  of  their  brethren 
in  the  ministry.  The  faithful  discharge  of  their  episcopal 
and  ministerial  duties  renders  it  necessary  that  they  be 
emphatically  working  men. 

Respecting  their  duties  it  may  be  remarked,  that  they 
are  required  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  the  Christian  life 
in  common  with  other  Christians;  all  the  duties  of  the 
Christian  ministry  in  common  with  other  ministers ;  and, 
in  addition,  to  perform  the  peculiar  duties  of  their  episcopal 
office. 

The  word  of  God  is  the  paramount  rule  by  which  all 
their  principles  and  conduct,  in  all  these  relations,  is  to  be 
regulated.  As  Methodists,  the  rule  of  Christian  faith  and 
duty,  drawn  from  the  word  of  God,  and  imbodied  in  the 
Articles  of  Religion  and  in  the  rules  of  discipline  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  must  govern  their  faith  and 
practice.  As  Methodist  ministers,  they  must  take  the  word 
of  God  as  explained  in  our  Articles  of  Religion  and  our 
standard  writings,  and  the  various  rules  of  discipline  re- 
specting the  duties  of  Christians  and  Christian  ministers, 
as  their  rule  of  faith,  of  practice,  of  instruction,  and  of  ad- 
ministration ;  and  then  they  must  discharge  the  peculiar 
duties  of  the  episcopal  office  in  the  manner  prescribed  in 
the  Discipline  in  addition.  These  rules  require  them  to 
travel  at  large  through  the  whole  connection — to  take  the 
oversight  of  the  entire  community — to  see  that  every  part 
of  the  work,  as  far  as  practicable,  is  duly  supplied  with 
suitable,  efficient  pastors — and  that  the  word,  sacraments, 
and  discipline,  are  duly  administered  to  the  people  of  our 
charge.  It  is  the  duty  of  these  bishops,  with  the  aid  of 
such  counsel  as  they  may  obtain,  and  that  with  the  strictest 
impartiality,  to  appoint,  from  year  to  year,  all  the  itinerant 
ministers  and  preachers  of  the  church  to  their  several 
fields  of  labor :  to  see  that  they  are  faithful  in  dispensing 
the  word  of  God,  and  the  sacraments  and  discipline  of  the 
gospel,  in  their  several  charges :  to  guard  against  the 
introduction  of  erroneous  doctrine,  indulgence  in  sinful 
practices,  or  neglect  of  duty  in  the  pastors  themselves  or 
their  people  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  prevent  the  tyran- 
nical exercise  of  the  power  vested  in  the  pastors  as  Chris- 
tian ministers,  or  in  the  people,  to  oppress  or  injure  their 
pastors. 

16 


362  OFFICE  AND  WOllK  OF  A  BISHOP.  [SER. 

In  the  discharge  of  their  episcopal  duties,  the  bishops 
must,  as  far  as  practicable,  be  present,  and  preside  in  all 
the  annual  conferences  ;  see  that  all  the  business  prescribed 
by  the  Discipline  to  be  transacted  by  these  conferences  be 
duly  attended  to,  and  prevent  improper  business  from  being 
introduced ;  and  ordain  all  such  persons  as  are  elected  by 
these  conferences  to  the  offices  of  deacon  and  elder.  In 
traveling  from  place  to  place  it  is  the  duty  of  a  bishop,  in 
his  capacity  of  a  general  pastor,  to  visit  as  many  of  his 
ministers,  societies,  and  members,  as  is  consistent  with  his 
other  duties,  that  he  may  know  their  state,  and  administer 
instruction,  exhortation,  consolation,  or  reproof  to  them, 
as  their  cases  may  require  ;  and  also  that  he  may  be  pre- 
pared to  judge  of  their  spiritual  wants,  and  to  promote 
their  spiritual  prosperity. 

But  the  duties  of  a  bishop  stop  not  here.  He  must  per- 
sonally administer  to  the  people  the  word  of  God,  that  is, 
a  bishop  must  be  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  We  have  a 
brief  but  comprehensive  summary  of  the  gospel  in  our  textj 
namely,  "Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day, 
and  for  ever."  To  preach  Christ,  is  to  preach  the  whole 
gospel — to  preach  Christ,  is  to  preach  his  eternal  divinity — 
as  is  evident  from  our  text.  But  I  cannot  enlarge  here. 
A  bishop  should  set  the  example  of  preaching  Christ  in 
his  true  character,  and  in  all  his  offices,  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  exhibit  the  whole  s^'stem  of  revealed  religion,  the  en- 
tire scheme  of  redemption  and  salvation,  and  so  to  bring 
the  gospel  home  to  the  consciences  and  hearts  of  his  hear- 
ers as  to  preach  "  Christ  in  them,  the  hope  of  glory." 

11.  The  esteem  in  which  a  bishop  should  be 
held  while  living,  and  after  his  decease. 

1.  The  office  of  a  Christian  minister  or  bishop  is  not 
created  for  the  benefit  of  the  persons  on  whom  it  is  con- 
ferred, but  for  the  benefit  of  those  over  whom  it  is  exer- 
cised- It  is  designed  as  an  instrumentality  of  bringing 
sinners  to  repentance — to  faith  in  Christ — and  into  a  state 
of  reconciliation  with  God  and  holiness  : — to  promote  the 
spiritual  advancement  of  the  people  of  God — to  build  them 
up  upon  their  most  holy  faith,  and  mature  them  for  eternal 
life  ;  that  they  may  finally  be  exalted  to  the  inheritance  of 
the  saints  in  light.  Wherefore  the  apostle  says  in  this 
chapter.  "  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and 


XXV.J  OFFICE   AND    WORK   OF   A   BISHOP.  363 

submit  yourselves :  for  they  watch  for  your  souls  as  they 
that  must  give  account ;  that  they  may  do  it  with  joy  and 
not  with  grief;    for  that  is  unprofitable  for  you."     The 
Christian  minister  and  bishop  should  be  honored  for  his 
office'  sake,  as  the  apostle  teaches  in  another  of  his  epistles : 
"  Let  the  elders  that  rule  well  be  accounted  worthy  of 
double  honor,  especially  they  who  labor  in  the  word  and 
doctrine."     Every  true  minister  of  Christ,  therefore,  is  en- 
titled to  reverence  and  respect  from  all  his  Christian  breth- 
ren, especially  a  Christian  bishop,  for  his  office'  sake.     He 
is  an  ambassador  of  Christ;   and  therefore  Christ  says, 
"  He  that  receiveth  you  receiveth  me ;  and  he  that  reject- 
eth  you  rejecteth  me ;  and  he  that  rejecteth  me  rejecteth 
Him  that  sent  me."    The  respect  due  to  the  Christian  min- 
istry includes  a  due  respect  and  attention  to  the  instruc- 
tions they  communicate,  and  the  precepts  they  enjoin  and 
enforce.     But  modern  Christian  ministers  and  bishops  are 
fallible  men  and  liable  to  err,  and  therefore  all  the  doc- 
trines and  precepts  they  teach  must  be  tested  by  the  word 
of  God  as  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures :  and  as  far  as 
they  disagree  with  this  infallible    standard   of  religious 
truth,  they  are  to  be  rejected.    But  we  are  never  at  liberty 
to  reject  their  teaching  except  it  is  found  to  be  at  variance 
with  the  Holy  Scriptures  :  in  all  other  cases  we  are  bound 
to  receive  and  obey  their  instructions.     While  we  respect 
the  persons  and  offices  of  these  our  spiritual  guides,  and 
listen  to  and  obey  their  instructions,  it  is  our  duty  to  con- 
tribute, according  to  our  ability,  toward  their  temporal  sup- 
port, and  the  comfortable  maintenance  of  their  families. 
Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  direct  reference  to  this  subject, 
has  declared  that  "  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire :"  and 
the  apostle  Paul,  that  '•  the  Lord  hath  ordained,  that  they 
who  preach  the  gospel  should  live  of  the  gospel."     And 
again :  "  If  we  have  sown  unto  you  spiritual  things,  is  it  a 
great  thing  if  we  reap  your  carnal  (temporal)  things?" 
In  respect  to  support,  there  is  no  danger  that  Methodist 
ministers  or  bishops  will  be  made  rich  by  the  emoluments 
of  their  office ;  and  it  is  very  desirable  that  they  should  be 
able  to  secure  a  competence  for  themselves  and  families  in 
old  age,  or  that  the  church  should  make  sufficient  provi- 
sion for  their  support  under  these  circumstances  ;  which  is 
not  likelv  to  be  donp  verv  soon,  unless  the  sympathies  of 


364  OFFICE  AND   WORK   OF  A  BISHOP.  [SER. 

the  church  toward  our  worn-out  ministers  and  their  fami- 
lies should  be  waked  up  to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
they  have  been  hitherto.  Our  bishops  and  other  ministers 
stand  on  equal  ground  with  respect  to  allowance  and  sup- 
port, except  that  the  former  have  their  allowance  esti- 
mated and  paid  by  the  ministry,  and  the  latter  by  the 
laity.  What  a  minister  on  a  circuit  or  station  shall  be  al- 
lowed for  the  support  of  his  family,  depends  upon  the  de- 
termination of  a  committee  selected  from  among  the  people 
of  his  charge,  without  allowing  him  to  be  a  party  to  the 
contract ;  and  what  a  bishop  shall  receive  for  the  support 
of  his  family,  depends  upon  the  determination  of  the  an- 
nual conference  within  whose  bounds  he  has  his  family 
residence.  When  the  estimated  allowance  for  the  year  is 
made  for  a  minister  on  a  circuit  or  station,  it  frequently  hap- 
pens that  a  considerable  part  of  it  is  never  realized,  and 
the  minister  must  make  the  best  shift  in  his  power  to  do 
without  it ;  and  cancel  the  whole  at  the  ensuing  annual 
conference,  even  though  one-half  or  three-fourths  of  the 
amount  remains  unpaid  by  both  the  people  of  his  charge 
and  the  conference.  On  the  other  hand,  the  bishop  re- 
ceives his  allowance  partly  from  the  annual  conferences  and 
partly  from  the  Book  Concern  ;  and,  as  far  as  I  am  ad- 
vised, he  never  is  allowed  to  be  deficient.  If,  therefore,  our 
bishops  are  better  provided  for  than  our  other  ministers,  it 
is  only  because  there  is  more  generosity  on  the  part  of  the 
ministry  than  there  is  on  that  of  the  people.  But,  with  all 
these  pecuniary  advantages  of  a  Methodist  bishop  over 
those  of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry,  our  bishops  receive, 
comparatively,  but  a  slender  support ;  and  surely,  when 
we  take  into  account  the  extent  of  their  labors,  privations, 
suffering,  and  responsibilities,  no  one  should  grudge  them 
a  competent  support  for  themselves  and  their  families. 
This  every  minister  of  the  gospel,  who  devotes  himself  to 
the  work,  should  have  through  life  ;  and  his  widow  and 
orphans,  if  such  are  left  by  him,  after  his  decease. 

2.  Deceased  Christian  ministers  and  bishops  should  be 
had  in  grateful  remembrance,  on  account  of  the  office 
they  filled  and  the  work  they  performed  in  the  church  and 
in  the  world.  An  inspired  writer  has  said,  "  The  right- 
eous shall  be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance :"  and  our 
text  enjoins  it  upon  us,  to  remember  our  spiritual  guides. 


XXV.J  OFFICE  AND    WORK  OF  A  BISHOP.  3Q5 

who  have  ruled  over  us,  and  sp6ken  to  us  the  word  of  God, 
when  they  are  laid  in  the  dust.  Therefore,  the  pious, 
laborious,  faithful,  and  useful  minister  of  Christ,  who 
has  devoted  his  life  to  the  cause  of  Grod  and  the  salvation 
of  the  souls  of  his  fellow-men,  should  be  gratefully  re- 
membered after  he  is  taken  from  his  labors  to  his  eternal 
rest.  One  of  the  methods  by  which  we  should  express 
our  gratitude  for  his  past  labors  is,  by  contributing  to  the 
comfortable  support  of  his  widow  and  orphan  children. 
But,  my  beloved  friends,  how  seldom  is  this  adequately 
done  !  Frequently  the  Christian  minister  is  caressed  and 
honored  by  his  people,  while  in  the  successful  career  of 
his  official  life ;  but  when  he  falls  in  death,  and  disappears 
from  among  us,  his  lonely  widow  and  orphan  are  compara- 
tively unnoticed  and  forgotten,  and  left  to  pine  away  in 
penury  and  want ;  and  sometimes  even  grudged  the  very 
small  pittance  allowed  them  by  the  Discipline  of  the 
church.  With  respect  to  the  widow  of  a  bishop,  no  ade- 
quate provision  has  yet  been  made,  nor  any  specific  direc- 
tion given,  by  the  General  Conference,  in  what  manner  she 
shall  receive  the  small  pittance  allowed  her  by  the  Disci- 
pline. It  is  hoped,  however,  that  this  will  be  attended  to 
at  the  next  session  of  that  body  in  May,  1844. 

But  surviving  Christians  are  bound  to  remember  their 
deceased  pastors,  not  only  from  motives  of  gratitude,  but 
especially  with  a  view  to  their  own  spiritual  advantage 
and  improvement.  We  should  call  to  mind  their  heavenly 
instructions  and  their  godly  example.  "  Whose  faith  fol- 
low," says  the  text ;  that  is,  improve  upon  his  instructions 
and  example,  now  that  he  is  no  more  with  you.  That  you 
may  do  this,  "consider  the  end"  of  his  instructions,  even 
your  own  salvation ;  consider  also  the  example  he  once  set 
before  you  for  your  improvement ;  consider  how  he  ended 
his  course, — he  ended  his  career  on  earth  in  the  peace  or 
triumph  of  the  Christian  faith.  Finally,  remember  that 
Christ  was  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  his  teaching,  both 
public  and  private — of  his  faith  and  hope,  and  of  his  entire 
course  of  life.  To  be  like  Christ — to  make  you  like 
Christ— was  the  height  of  his  ambition.  To  die  in  Christ, 
to  reign  with  Christ,  and  to  present  you  to  Christ,  "  with- 
out spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,"  and  thereby  to  pro- 
mote the  glory  of  God,  the  honor  of  the  Redeemer,  his 


366  OFFICE   AND   WORK   OF  A  BISHOP.  [SER. 

own  and  his  hearers'  eternal  felicity,  was  the  great  end  of 
all  his  labors  and  his  sufferings  in  life. 

In  this  manner  a  deceased  pastor  should  be  remem- 
bered by  us.  Here,  therefore,  we  shall  rest  the  subject, 
and  proceed  to  call  your  attention  to  a  brief  notice  of  the 
life,  death,  and  character  of  our  deceased  bishop. 

Rev.  Robert  Richford  Roberts  is  said  to  have 
been  born  in  Frederick  county,  Maryland,  and  raised  in 
Adams  county,  Pennsylvania.  Of  the  time  of  his  birth  I 
am  not  informed.  His  age  is  supposed  to  have  been  about 
sixty-five  years,  though,  from  his  aged  appearance  for  a 
few  years  past,  strangers  would  have  judged  him  to  be 
much  older.  Of  his  early  history  I  have  no  knowledge.* 
The  only  documents,  containing  any  information  of  our 
venerable  friend,  on  which  I  have  been  able  to  lay  my 
hands,  are  the  Minutes  of  the  Annual  Conferences  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  brief  notice  of  his 
death  in  the  Western  Christian  Advocate.  My  own  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  the  bishop  commenced  in  Phila- 
delphia, during  the  session  of  the  Philadelphia  Annual 
Conference,  in  April,  1816,  a  little  prior  to  the  session  of  the 
General  Conference  of  that  year,  in  Baltimore,  May  1st. 

He  was  admitted  on  trial  as  a  traveling  preacher,  in  the 
Baltimore  Annual  Conference,  A.  D.  1802,  and  appointed 
to  the  Carlisle  circuit,  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania.  A.  D. 
1803,  he  traveled  on  Montgomery  circuit,  Maryland.  In 
1804  he  was  admitted  into  full  connection,  ordained  a 
deacon,  and  appointed  to  Frederick  circuit,  in  the  last-men- 
tioned state.  The  ensuing  year  he  was  stationed  on  the 
Shenango  circuit.  The  Baltimore  Annual  Conference 
held  its  session  that  year  (1 805)  in  Winchester,  Virginia, 
at  which  the  Rev.  Henry  Boehm  was  present,  and,  as  he 
informed  me,  heard  brother  Roberts  preach  an  excellent 
sermon  on — "  Let  him  that  glorieth,  glory  in  the  Lord.'* 
Brother  Boehm  adds,  that  Bishop  Asbury  was  so  much 
pleased  with  this  discourse,  that  it  led  him  to  take  more 
especial  notice  of  its  author;  that  it  had  an  influence  on 
his  subsequent  appointments  ;  and,  to  use  brother  Boehm's 

*  Since  this  discourse  was  delivered,  a  Life  of  Bishop  Roberts  has 
been  published,  to  which  the  reader  is  refeiTed  for  further  and  moie 
specific  information  concerning  him. — P.  P.  S. 


XXV.]  OFFICE  AND   WORK   OF  A  BISHOP.  367 

own  words,  "  after  which  period  our  beloved  brother  rose 
as  a  burning  and  shining  light  into  more  public  notice." 
He  was  ordained  an  elder  in  1806,  and  appointed  to  Erie 
circuit,  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1807  he  was 
stationed  in  the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  and  in  1808  at  West 
Wheeling,  in  Ohio.  In  1809  he  received  an  appointment 
to  the  city  of  Baltimore,  and  in  1810  to  Fell's  Point,  now 
East  Baltimore  station.  In  1811  and  1812  he  labored  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  the  former  year  in  Alexandria, 
and  the  latter  in  Georgetown.  In  1813  he  was  transferred 
to  the  Philadelphia  Conference,  and  stationed  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  where  he  remained  two  years. 

In  1815  he  was  appointed  presiding  elder  of  the  Schuyl- 
kill district,  which  included  Philadelphia.  This  led  to  his 
being  chosen  president  of  the  Philadelphia  Annual  Con- 
ference in  April,  1816,  as  no  bishop  happened  to  be  pre- 
sent. During  the  session  of  this  conference  a  considerable 
number  of  delegates  from  the  northern  and  eastern  con- 
ferences, on  their  way  to  Baltimore,  the  seat  of  the  General 
Conference,  which  commenced  on  the  first  day  of  May, 
1816,  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  and  for  several  days  were 
present  and  witnessed  the  manner  in  which  brother  Roberts 
presided  in  the  conference,  with  which  they  were  generally 
pleased.  This  probably  led  to  his  election  to  the  episcopal 
office,  at  the  General  Conference. 

Being  elected  and  ordained  a  bishop  in  1816,  he  imme- 
diately entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  episcopal  duties. 
The  first  annual  conference  he  attended  in  this  character 
was  held  in  this  city,  (New- York.)  My  acquaintance  with 
him  commenced  at  the  Philadelphia  Conference  of  that 
3^ear ;  and  being  at  my  father's  in  New-Jersey,  where  he 
called,  it  became  my  privilege  to  accompany  him  to  the 
city,  and  introduce  him  to  a  number  of  persons  as  Bishop 
Roberts.  The  repetition  of  the  word  bishop,  however,  was 
more  than  his  modesty  could  endure,  and  he  earnestly  be- 
sought me  to  leave  that  great  title  in  silence,  and  simply 
introduce  him  as  brother  Roberts.  Having  entered  upon 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  high  office,  he  continued 
to  discharge  them  with  zeal,  fidelity,  and  perseverance,  as 
long  as  his  health  and  strength  would  enable  him  to  travel ; 
and  only  consented  the  last  summer  to  abandon  his  inten- 
tion of  visiting  Texas,  to  attend  the  annual  conference  in 


368  OFFICE  AND    WORK   OF  A   BISHOP.  [SER. 

that  republic,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  one  of  his  col- 
leagues, and  that  of  other  friends,  though  at  that  time  in  ill 
health. 

In  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  a  bishop  he  had  to 
travel  throughout  the  United  States  ;  and  as  he  located  his 
family  in  Indiana,  he  traveled  extensively  in  the  west  and 
south-west,  where  the  country  generally  is  new  and  the 
traveling  difficult,  and  not  unfrequently  connected  with 
coarse  and  hard  fare :  but  he  shrunk  not  at  the  pros- 
pect of  difficulties  and  sufferings,  nor  neglected  to  go  for- 
ward in  his  work  because  in  its  performance  they  had  to 
be  endured.  This  course,  in  all  probability,  was  the  prin- 
cipal cause  of  superinducing  a  premature  old  age. 

When  he  was  elected  to  the  episcopal  office  his  consti- 
tution appeared  to  be  firm  and  vigorous,  and  he,  though 
grave,  was  sprightly  and  active,  and  by  no  means  of  an 
aged  appearance  for  his  years.  But,  for  several  years 
past,  he  has  carried  the  appearance  of  an  old  man,  who 
was  worn  down  with  age  and  cares  to  an  extent  much 
greater  than  his  years.  Since  his  return  home  last  sum- 
mer he  has  been  sinking  under  his  infirmities,  and  rapidly 
tending  toward  the  grave ;  till  finally,  on  the  twenty-seventh 
of  March  last,  (1843,)  at  about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he 
departed  this  life,  at  his  residence  at  Lawrenceport,  in  In- 
diana, leaving  the  companion  of  his  life,  an  aged  and  dis- 
consolate widow,  to  mourn  his  departure.  All  w^e  know 
of  the  circumstances  attendant  on  his  last  illness  and  death 
is,  that  he  suffered  much  to  the  end  of  his  earthly  course, 
but  that  in  the  midst  of  his  sufferings  his  mind  was  in  a 
happy  frame.  It  was  intended  that  his  remains  should  be 
committed  to  the  earth  on  the  day  after  his  decease,  in  a 
secluded  spot  on  his  own  farm,  which  had  previously  been 
selected  for  this  purpose  by  himself 

Bishop  Roberts  was  not  possessed  of  extraordinary 
powers  of  mind,  or  of  extensive  erudition ;  but  he  was  a 
man  of  good  common  sense  and  solid  information,  espe- 
cially in  respect  to  theological  and  ecclesiastical  subjects. 
It  has  been  said  of  him,  as  was  said  of  Barnabas,  in  Acts 
xi,  24,  that  "  he  was  a  good  man,  and  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  of  faith  ;  and  [that  through  his  instrumentality] 
much  people  was  added  unto  the  Lord." 

The  constitutional  traits  by  which  he  was  characterized, 


XXVI.]  THE  PAST   AND   THE  FUTURE.  36^ 

as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  judge  of  them,  were,  frank- 
ness, modesty,  and  diffidence  ;  and  yet,  though  it  was  gene- 
rally thrown  upon  the  background,  he  had  sufficient  firm- 
ness to  keep  him  steady  to  his  purpose,  and  enable  him  to 
persevere  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  under  the  most  try- 
ing circumstances.  But  his  toils  and  sufferings  are  for 
ever  at  an  end,  and  he  rests  from  his  labors  in  the  paradise 
of  God.  Let  us  remember  his  Christian  virtues,  and  study 
to  imitate  them.  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the 
Lord." 


SERMON  XXVI. 

The  Past  and  the  Future^  as  surveyed  by  a  Faithful 
Minister  of  Christy  at  the  Hour  of  Dissolution.* 

BY  REV.  ISRAEL  CHAMBERLAYNE, 

OF   THE   GENESEE   CONFEKENCE. 

"  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at 
hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have 
kept  the  faith ;  lienceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righte- 
ousness, which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that 
day."— 2  Tim.  iv,  6-8. 

Unvarying  tradition,  collated  with  the  text  and  a  va- 
riety of  internal  testimony,  leaves  no  room  to  doubt,  that, 
at  the  date  of  this  epistle,  the  writer  was  in  prison,  and  un- 
der the  sentence  of  Nero  Cassar.  That  sentence  was  death. 
The  text  records  the  state  of  his  feelings  at  that  time, 
when  the  execution  of  his  sentence  was  regarded  as  no 
less  imminent  than  it  was  certain.  Here,  then,  we  have 
the  experience  of  a  true  minister  of  Christ  at  the  hour  of 
dissolution,  m  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience,  as  to  his 
past  fidelity,  and  in  the  full  assurance  of  hope,  as  to  his 
future  glorious  reward. 

*  This  discourse  was  originally  delivered  before  the  Genesee  Con- 
ference of  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  on  the  death 
of  the  late  Rev.  Seth  Mattison,  long  a  devoted  and  beloved  member 
of  that  body.  To  adapt  it  to  general  purposes,  besides  a  few  passing 
verbal  corrections,  it  is  here  merely  abridged  of  those  portions  of  it  by 
which  it  stood  connected  with  the  above-stated  occasion. 
16* 


370  THE  PAST   AND   THE   FUTURE.  [SER. 

I.  His  past  fidelity.     "  I  have  fought  a  good  fight, 
1  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith." 

This  judgment  of  his  past  life,  as  a  Christian  and  as  a 
minister,  was  rendered  in  full  view  of  the  nearness  of  his 
approach  to  death,  and  to  the  tribunal  of  his  Master.  "  I 
am  now  ready  to  be  offered,"  appears  to  have  no  reference 
to  his  preparedness  for  death,  considered  with  regard  to  the 
state  of  his  soul.  His  allusion  to  the  familiar  details  of  a 
Jewish  sacrifice  renders  it  necessary  to  understand  the 
readiness  here  asserted,  as  corresponding  to  the  complete- 
ness of  all  the  various  preliminaries  to  the  act  by  which 
the  devoted  victim  was  immolated.  That  this  is  the  true 
exposition,  is  further  obvious  from  the  parallel  in  the  fol- 
lowing member  of  the  sentence  ;  in  which,  with  a  change 
of  the  figure,  the  same  idea  is  more  fully  stated — "  the  time 
of  my  departure  is  at  hand:'  Indeed,  according  to  concur- 
rent authority,  a  literal  rendering,  for  "  ready  to  he  offered,'* 
would  give,  ^'■already  poured  out:'  "  I  am  already  poured 
out."  A  martyr  already  in  affection,  he  considers  himself 
as  a  martyr  already  in  fact.  The  thing  itself  so  joyfully 
certain,  and  the  time  of  it  so  joyfully  near,  he  embraces  it 
as  a  present  good. 

He  regards  his  death  as  a  sacrifice.  This  idea,  though 
with  more  particularity  of  allusion,  is  equally  presented  in 
the  pouring  out  of  the  more  literal,  as  in  the  offering  of  the 
common  translation.  By  the  latter  would  be  understood, 
the  immolated  victim  itself;  by  the  former,  the  libation,  or 
liquid  effusion,  which,  according  to  Hebrew  practice,  was 
poured  upon  it,  subsequently  to  its  immolation  and  the  lay- 
ing of  it  on  the  altar.  Eitlier  way,  the  apostle  considers 
himself  as  a  sacrificial  offering ;  though,  by  a  strict  adhe- 
rence to  his  terms,  he  would  be  understood  as  exhibiting 
the  gospel  faith  which  he  had  proclaimed,  as  the  sacrifice 
proper ;  and  the  blood  of  his  martyrdom,  as  the  libation 
poured  over  it,  for  the  purpose  of  attesting  and  sealing  its 
validity. 

He  speaks  of  his  dertli  as  a  "  departure" — "  My  depart- 
ure is  at  hand;"  or,  more  literally,  "The  time  of  my 
departure  has  come."  According  to  the  true  sense  of  this 
tropical  language,  the  inspired  author  of  it  regarded  him- 
self as  being  distinguishable  and  severable  from  his  animal 
organization.     He  well  knew  what  would  be  the  conse- 


XXVI.]       THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  371' 

quence  to  that  organization,  of  the  h'ctor's  ax,  and  of  chem- 
ical decomposition.  A  corruptible  body,  he  knew  it  would 
lie  powerless  and  insensible  in  the  grasp  of  death  through 
all  those  periods  which  had  revolved  before  his  prophetic 
ken  in  advance  of  the  resurrection.  But,  for  himself,  he 
was  under  no  apprehension  of  being  arrested,  and  made  a 
sharer  in  that  long  confinement.  That  the  departure  of  the 
apostle  implies  something  different  from  a  going  into  the 
grave,  is  clear  from  the  instances  in  which  he  employs  the 
same  forms  of  expression  to  the  utter  exclusion  of  that  idea ; 
as,  where  he  declares  his  "willingness  to  be  absent  from  the 
body,  that  he  might  be  present  with  the  Lord;  and  his  de- 
sire to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  as  far  better  than  remain- 
ing in  the  body.  Or,  was  even  a  Roman  prison,  with  the 
privilege  of  continuing  his  epistolary  labors,  and  holding 
communion  with  God,  to  be  declined  in  favor  of  the  utter 
inaction  and  unconsciousness  of  the  grave  ?  This  exulta- 
tion was  kindled  by  the  anticipation  of  no  descent  into  the 
darkness  of  a  temporary  annihilation  ;  but  by  the  assured 
prospect  of  immediate  entrance,  through  the  sharpness  of 
his  final  conflict,  into  the  world  of  purified  and  happy 
spirits. 

The  judgment  of  the  dying  minister,  formed  under  these 
circumstances,  was,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  his  oion  judgment, 
matured  under  influences  which  precluded  the  slightest 
shade  of  fallacy. 

No  element  of  the  former  Pharisee  is  here;  no  inade- 
quate perception  of  the  spirit  and  extent  of  the  law  of 
God ;  no  proud  conceit  of  his  own  sufficiency  to  mete  out 
the  obedience  which  that  law  demanded.  In  Christ  cruci- 
fied for  sin,  he  had  seen  at  once  its  exceeding  sinfulness, 
and  that  the  thraldom  of  its  guilt,  and  pollution,  and  power, 
could  be  dissolved  by  no  human  might  whatever.  In  utter 
,ielf-despair  he  had  questioned  earth  and  heaven — "  Who 
shall  deliver  me  ?"  And  a  voice  responded — a  voice  which 
stirred  his  fainting  spirit  with  a  new  life  and  a  new  energy 
responded — "  Jesus  of  Nazareth  /"  And  the  body  of  death 
was  exchanged  for  the  spirit  of  life  ;  the  ashes  on  his 
brow,  for  the  oil  of  gladness  ;  and  the  manacles  and  groans 
of  a  captive,  for  the  arms  and  shout  of  a  conqueror. 

But  now,  that  the  strife  of  the  combat  and  the  race  is 
finished,  does  he  look  back  on  the  foes  he  had  vanquished, 


372  THE  PAST  AND   THE  FUTURE.  [SER. 

the  competitors  he  had  distanced,  with  the  glow  of  a  self-ap- 
propriating praise  ?  "  To  me,  who  am  the  least  of  all  saints, 
is  this  grace  given."  "  My  sufficiency  is  of  God."  "  God 
forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross."  Finally,  hear 
him  gasping  in  his  last  conflict :  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  who 
giveth  me  the  victory  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

This  judgment  of  his  past  life  by  the  apostle,  as  it  was 
unmingled  with  se/f-complacency,  so  also  was  it  uninflu- 
enced by  the  favorable  judgment  of  others.  His  pathway 
had  led  him  through  honor,  as  well  as  dishonor.  Had  he 
met  the  hiss,  the  taunt,  the  heavy  lash,  and  the  heavier 
missile  ?  Had  he  been  familiar  with  prisons  ?  Had  he 
been  tossed  into  the  Ephesian  amphitheatre,  and  fought 
with  the  voracious  tenants  of  the  proconsular  menagerie  ? 
Had  maddened  thousands  shouted,  "Away  with  such  a 
fellow  from  the  earth,  for  it  is  not  fit  that  he  should  live  f 
Thousands  of  other  voices — Maltese  and  Lycaonian — had 
declared  his  immortality  ;  had  voted  him  the  honors  of 
godhead.  But,  passing  all  that,  as  unworthy  of  his  dying 
thought,  he  had  enjoyed,  what  every  good  man  sets  above 
all  other  earthly  considerations,  the  confidence,  the  affec- 
tion of  the  good.  No  mere  man  ever  attracted,  in  equal 
measure,  the  reverent  love  and  the  loving  reverence  of  all 
the  wisest  and  best  of  the  race.  His  praise,  not  the  praise 
of  a  subaltern ;  but,  next  to  the  great  Captain  of  our  sal- 
vation, that  of  the  prime  leader  of  the  armament  of  the 
King  of  kings,  was  in  all  the  churches.  In  their  eyes  his 
scarred  visage  was  honorable.  To  them,  the  wrinkles 
which  care,  more  than  time,  had  planted  on  his  brow  ;  the 
hairs  that  the  same  hand,  rather  than  that  of  time,  had  thin- 
ned and  whitened,  would  have  been  less  illustrious  if  sur- 
mounted with  the  diadem  of  the  Caesar.s.  The  memory  of 
all  this  was  with  him. 

With  this,  also,  there  mingled  other  memories  :  his  two- 
fold vocation,  as  a  Christian  and  as  an  apostle,  with  the  su- 
per-earthly glory  attending  its  utterance  ;  the  signs,  and 
wonders,  and  mighty  deeds,  by  which  his  high  commission 
had  been  proved  ;  his  official  success  ;  the  deserted  shrines 
of  the  old  idolatries,  and  the  myriads  turned  from  dark- 
ness to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  to  God  :  all 
these  memories  rose  before  that  mind  which  was  throwing 
its  searching  glance  into  the  past. 


XXVI.]  THE  PAST  AND   THE  FUTURE.  373 

But,  if  he  had  said  of  labor  and  shame,  and  pain  and 
death,  "  None  of  these  things  move  me,  neither  count  I  my 
life  dear  to  me,  so  that  I  may  jBnish  my  course  with  joy, 
and  the  ministry  which  I  have  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus ;" 
he  had  also  placed  every  consideration  of  an  opposite  cha- 
racter, including,  in  a  marked  manner,  his  ancestral 
honors,  and  the  distinctions  won  by  personal  effort,  in  the 
same  category.  He  had  even  excluded  them  from  the  pale 
of  respectable  comparison  ;  had  stigmatized  them  by  a  cli- 
max of  dishonorable  simile:  "What  things  were  gain  to 
me,  those  I  counted  loss  for  Christ :  yea,  doubtless,  and  I 
count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  know- 
ledge of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord,  for  whom  I  have  suffered 
the  loss  of  all  things,  and  do  count  them  hut  6 Kv66a?ia — 
the  vilest  refuse,  the  merest  excrement — that  I  may  win 
Christ."  Thus,  even  in  life,  he  who  had  more  than  any 
other  man  to  trust  in  for  acceptance  with  God  ;  more  of 
what  he  had  been,  of  what  he  was,  and  what  he  had  done 
and  suffered ;  thus,  even  in  life,  had  he  adjudged  it  all  as 
utterly  insufficient  for  that  awful  purpose. 

What,  then,  could  have  inspired  this  arbitrament  of  a 
justifying  conscience  in  view  of  his  past  life,  when  the 
shades  of  death  were  deepening  those  of  his  dungeon,  and 
the  severe  light  of  eternity  lay  on  the  scenes  of  his  fu- 
ture being?  What,  indeed,  but  that  he  was  found  in 
Christ,  not  having  on  his  own  righteousness,  but  the  right- 
eousness of  God  which  was  by  faith  in  him  ;  that  Christ's 
merit  had  rendered  his  person  and  his  works  acceptable 
to  God ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  had  procured  for,  and 
assured  to  him,  an  eternity  of  abode  in  his  own  glorious 
presence  ? 

Such  being  the  circumstances  under  which  this  great 
minister  formed  his  judgment,  both  with  regard  to  the  past 
and  the  future  ;  let  us,  for  a  few  moments,  accompany  him 
in  his  survey  as  well  of  the  one  as  of  the  other. 

With  regard  to  the  past,  the  auto-biographer  says  :  "  I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I 
have  kept  the  faith."  Before  entering  into  these  different 
views  of  the  subject,  a  remark  seems  proper  which  is  ap- 
plicable to  them  all.  A  pervading  idea  in  this  accumula- 
tion of  metaphor  is  preterition.  He  had  previously,  as  we 
have  seen,  anticipated  his  martyrdom  by  saying,  "  I  am  al- 


374  THE  PAST  AND  THK  FUTURE.  [SER. 

ready  poured  out — the  time  of  my  departure  has  come'' 
What  follows,  then,  expresses  the  idea  of  completed  proba- 
tionary action.  This  being  taken  as  the  governing  idea,  it 
will  oblige  us  to  exhibit  every  other  as  holding  a  subordi- 
nate relation  to  it.  Thus  :  "  My  fight  is  finished  ;  I  have 
fought  it  through :  my  course  is  finished ;  I  am  already  at 
the  goal:  and  with  regard  to  both  of  them — the  combat 
and  the  race — they  were  conducted  according  to  the  pre- 
scribed conditions  :  those  conditions  are  consummated  also ; 
I  have  kept  the  faith." 

One  more  general  remark :  To  the  mind  of  a  common 
believer,  shut  up  to  the  near  and  certain  prospect  of  the 
greatest  physical  calamity  to  which  the  human  being  is  ex- 
posed in  his  present  condition  ;  to  such  a  mind,  the  idea  of 
that  event  acquires  a  magnitude  of  control  to  which  every 
other  sublunary  consideration  is  subordinated  ;  it  is  well  if 
it  throw  no  shadow  on  the  scenes  beyond.  To  such  a  mind, 
the  last  trial  is  the  great  one.  And,  as  it  presents  itself  so 
to  him,  it  is  so  he  naturally  presents  it  to  others.  It  tinges 
all  he  says,  as  it  colors  all  he  sees.  To  die ! — If  it  is  not 
everything  to  him,  it  is,  at  least,  a  great  thing  :  the  one  great 
thing. 

With  the  apostle  all  is  different.  He  is  not  going  into 
the  grave.  He  is  departing,  indeed  ;  but  he  is  departing 
to  be  with  Christ.  The  true  difficulties  of  probation  are 
already  settled  ;  and  now,  blessed  be  God  !  he  has  nothing 
to  do  but  die.  So  small  a  matter  does  he  account  it,  that 
it  is  the  same  to  him  as  done  already.  More  properly  ;  he 
has  come  to  the  point  where,  in  the  order  of  natural 
events,  death  should  have  been  ;  but  he  is  not  there.  He 
writes  of  all  that  affected  him  ;  of  all  that  hQ  found  there  ; 
but  death  is  not  so  much  as  named.  Instead  of  dying,  he 
does  two  joyful  things ;  pours  out  a  thankful  libation,  and 
departs.  Death  had  been  there.  Death,  the  conqueror, 
had  been  there;  but,  instead  of  him,  he  finds  one  who 
has  already  conquered  tlie  conqueror.  His  name  is 
Victory.  And,  after  looking  around  for  his  last  enemy 
in  vain,  the  departing  saint  exclaims  :  "  Death  is  swal- 
lowed up  in  Victory." 

But  we  must  now  return,  v,'ith  tlie  apostle,  to  a  sui'vey 
of  the  expedients  by  which  the  grace  of  God  had  enabled 
him  to  achieve  this  high  result.     We  quote  him : — 


XXVI.]  THE   PAST   AND   THE   FUTURE.  375 

1.  "  I  have  fought  a  good  fight — that  good  fight."  As  all 
the  remaining  terms  in  the  text,  including  this,  are  agon- 
istic, they  must,  of  course,  be  understood  in  the  light  of 
agonistic  custom.  A  good  fight,  according  to  that  custom, 
was  an  honorable  one,  as  excluding,  utterly,  all  who  were 
base-born,  or  of  infamous  behavior,  as  well  as  any,  how- 
ever qualified,  who  might  attempt  to  enter  its  lists  without 
proper  official  sanction.  To  fight  a  good,  that  is,  an  ho- 
norable fight,  according  to  the  same  original  signification 
of  the  terms,  was  to  bring  it  to  a  triumphant  issue ;  as  no 
other  issue,  consistently  with  that  import,  could  be  either 
good  or  honorable. 

The  combat  of  the  veteran  minister  had  been  a  good 
one,  agreeably  to  all  these  definitions,  and  in  such  a  sense 
of  the  qualifying  word  as  could  never  admit  of  its  applica- 
tion to  any  earthly  contest  whatever. 

(1.)  To  qualify  him  with  appropriate  birth,  he  had  been 
born  again ;  begotten  and  born  of  God.  To  free  him  from 
any  disqualification  arising  from  personal  conduct,  the 
same  power  which  had  numbered  him  among  the  sons  of 
God,  had  sanctified  him  in  soul,  body,  and  spirit. 

(2.)  Nor  had  he  entered  the  arena  of  this  high  contest 
at  his  own  instance,  or,  officially  considered,  on  his  own 
behalf;  but  on  the  motion  and  behalf  of  God.  God  had 
moved  him  to  engage  in  it ;  not,  mainly,  for  reasons  that 
were  personal  to  him  who  was  moved ;  but  for  such  as  in- 
volved the  character  of  the  great  Mover. 

Earth,  originally  a  fair  colony  of  heaven,  had  been  the 
subject  of  an  irruption  from  the  penal  regions.  The  instiga- 
tor of  insurrection  on  the  plains  of  heaven  had  succeeded  in 
erecting  the  standard  of  revolt  among  the  subjects  of  God 
on  earth.  All  had  submitted  to  it;  all  had  sworn  allegi- 
ance ;  all  had  armed  to  support  it ;  and  the  government 
of  the  thrice  holy,  the  just,  and  the  good,  was  everywhere 
superseded  by  the  reign  of  the  fell  usurper. 

It  was  to  expel  this  usurper,  and  re-assert  his  own  gra- 
cious dominion  over  the  sons  of  men,  that  the  Word,  which 
was  God,  had  become  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us.  To  this 
end  he  had  died  and  risen.  In  pursuance  of  the  same  end 
he  had  also  "  ascended  up  on  high,  leading  captivity  cap- 
tive, and  receiving  gifts  for  men  ;  even  for  the  rebellious, 
that  the  Lord   God  might  dwell  among  them."     The  in- 


376  THE  PAST  AND   THE  FUTURE.  [SEK. 

ventoiy  of  this  munificence  to  his  rebellious  subjects  from 
the  victorious  Prince  of  peace,  is  headed  by  apostles ;  for, 
^'  when  he  ascended  up  on  high,  he  gave  some,  apostles  ;  and 
some,  prophets  ;  and  some,  evangelists ;  and  some,  pastors 
and  teachers :"  or,  as  it  is  elsewhere  stated,  "  God  hath  set 
some  in  the  church ;  first  apostles  ;  secondarily  prophets," 
and  so  of  the  rest. 

In  this  first  class  of  officers  under  the  restored  govern- 
ment of  God,  the  subject  of  this  inspired  memoir  stood 
conspicuous.  As  previously  intimated,  therefore,  he  was 
not  self-ushered  amid  the  elements  of  this  great  conflict  for 
the  recovery  of  the  invaded  rights  of  the  Lord  of  the  uni- 
verse. For,  whether  he  appealed  to  the  devouring  fire 
that  invested  Sinai,  or  to  the  mysterious  fountain  of  Cal- 
vary, which  alone  can  quench  it,  he  did  it  with  his  finger 
on  the  broad  seal  of  his  divine  commission. 

(3.)  The  conflict,  from  which  the  illustrious  subject  of 
our  notice  was  now  retiring,  had  been  a  good  one,  in  the 
above-stated  sense,  as  it  left  him  master  of  the  hard-won 
field.  He  had  been  in  every  part  of  that  field,  as  the  shift- 
ing scenes  of  it  called  him ;  not  to  elude,  but  to  meet  its 
intensest  heat,  its  darkest  peril.  Wherever  the  army  of 
the  aliens  showed  the  most  determined  front,  and  was 
working  the  deadliest  havoc,  there  was  he.  Wherever  his 
young  recruits  staggered,  or  were  driven  back  by  some 
hellish  onset ;  wherever  a  subaltern  fled  or  fell,  or  a  stand- 
ard of  his  God  was  falling,  there  his  voice  was  heard; 
there  his  arm  smote ;  and  there  a  double  death  was  dealt 
by  the  sharp  sword  with  two  edges. 

Thus  did  he  maintain  the  conflict  to  the  last.  Was  it 
not  a  good  one — good,  in  the  sense  of  honorable  ?  As 
such,  was  he  not  entitled  to  look  back  upon  it,  especially 
now,  that,  with  regard  to  him,  that  contest  was  finished, 
and  anticipation,  with  so  unfaltering  a  confidence,  was  giv- 
ing him  presage  of  everlasting  victory  ? 

The  general  scope  of  allusive  description  in  this  part  of 
the  text,  and  the  extent  to  which  we  have  already  made  a 
general  application  of  it,  leave  but  little  more  for  your 
consideration  under  the  present  view  of  our  subject.  It  is 
proper,  however,  that  the  conflict  which,  in  the  memory 
of  it,  ministered  so  greatly  to  the  apostle's  satisfaction  in 
the  near  prospect  of  dissolution,  should  be  surveyed,  as 


XXVI.]  THE  PAST  AND   THE  FUTURE.  377 

doubtless  he  surveyed  it,  with  reference  to  himself,  person- 
ally, and  as  a  minister :  and, 

1.)  Personally,  he  had  achieved  a  good  combat.  Wher- 
ever you  date  the  commencement  of  his  regenerated  life ; 
whether,  in  the  low  sense  in  which  Peter,  and  James,  and 
John,  had  been  subjects  of  acceptable  piety  while  followers 
of  the  Baptist,  or  even  earlier ;  whether,  in  that  low  sense, 
you  suppose  that  the  disciple  of  Gamaliel,  who  declares 
that  he  had  served  God  from  his  forefathers  with  a  pure 
conscience,  had  also  served  him  acceptably ;  and  that,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  other  apostles,  his  Christian  calling  was 
the  mere  development  of  the  germ  of  his  Jewish  piety  :  or 
whether  you  suppose  him  to  have  lived  in  such  disobedi- 
ence to  the  light  of  his  dispensation  as  a  Jew,  that  he  was 
a  child  of  wrath  till  he  became  a  Christian ;  certain  it  is, 
that,  in  becoming  so,  he  became,  in  the  strongest  sense, 
"  a  new  creature^  He  who  had  believed  in  God  before, 
now  believed  in  Jesus  ;  and  the  love  of  God  in  him  became 
the  absorbing,  hallowing,  all-controlling  passion  of  his 
existence. 

This  new  life  was  guarded,  and  the  conditions  of  its  ulti- 
mate perpetuity  fulfilled,  with  a  vigilance  and  labor  that 
knew  no  moment  of  intermission.  Here  lay  the  great  con- 
flict of  his  life.  Unprecedented  public  labor,  with  a  co- 
pious baptism  of  the  sufferings  of  his  great  Head,  was  not 
only  no  ground  of  repose  from  this  conflict  of  the  interior 
nature,  but  ministered  constant  admonition  against  indul- 
gence. It  inspired  an  unslumbering  apprehension,  lest  the 
instincts  imbedded  in  his  animal  constitution  should  assert 
their  brute  control.  If  others  dream  that  a  high  office  in 
the  church,  and  the  earnest  and  successful  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  it,  will  insure,  to  the  regenerated  minister,  the 
prize  of  the  heavenly  life,  unconnected  with  the  constant 
mortification  of  the  fleshly  appetites,  he  made  the  contrary 
inference.  One  apostle  had  fallen.  "  I,  therefore,  so  fight, 
not  as  one  that  beateth  the  air ;  but  I  keep  my  body  under, 
and  bring  it  into  subjection,  lest  that,  by  any  means,  when 
I  have  preached  to  others,  I  myself  should  become  a  cast- 
away." 

The  more  potent  of  his  enemies,  however,  were  not 
those  which  sought  the  destruction  of  the  spirit  through  an 
insurrection  of  the  animal  passions.    The  accursed  of  God, 


378  THE   PAST   AND   THE   FUTURE.  [SER. 

the  condemned  spirits  of  the  pit,  were  abroad.  The  per- 
fect man,  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  sustained  by  the  omnipo- 
tence which  was  incarnate  in  him,  had  wrestled  with  these 
powers  of  evil ;  had  wrestled  to  agony  ;  had  agonized  even 
to  blood.  True,  he  had  bruised  their  head  ;  but  they  also 
had  bruised  his  assumed  nature,  till  his  surcharge  of  suffer- 
ing made  him  own,  "  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even 
to  death."  These  deposed  and  ahen  spirits  are  they  who 
perform  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  drama  of  that  only 
real  life  which  inspiration  moves  before  us  with  all  its 
scenes  of  mighty  interest ;  scenes  bright  with  everlasting 
day ;  dark  as  the  shades  of  hell.  Hoav  countless  are  they ! 
If  one  single  detachment,  with  orders  relating  to  an  ob- 
scure and  passive  individual,  boasted  itself  a  legion ;  how 
many  such  squadrons  must  hang  on  the  movements  of 
each  who  makes  aggressive  war  against  their  leader !  How 
many  of  them  must  he  attract  who  waves  one  of  the  ban- 
ners of  the  Lord's  host ! 

But,  next  to  the  all-conquering  Name,  the  name  of  the 
subject  of  this  memoir  was  dreadful  among  the  apostate 
powers.  '•'Jesus  I  know;  and  Paul  I  know."  Who,  then, 
but  the  chivalry  of  hell  must  have  been  marshaled  against 
him  ?  Whose  eye  can  gauge  the  depth  of  the  dark  circle 
w^hich  it  drew  around  him  ?  Who  can  count  the  number 
of  its  lifted  spears  ?  But  he  stands  !  The  strife  mingles  ; 
but  he  stands,  unconquered ;  more  than  unconquered,  he  is 
unconquerable;  more  than  unconquerahle,  he  conquers. 
The  armor  that  covers  him  makes  him  unconquerable  ;  the 
arms  he  wields,  and  the  might  by  which  he  wields  them, 
make  him  conqueror  ;  yea,  more  than  conqueror.  God  of 
might !  the  armor,  the  arms,  the  strength,  the  victor,  and 
the  victory,  are  thine ! 

2.)  But  if  the  author  and  subject  of  our  theme  had 
waged  a  successful  conflict  against  his  personal  enemies, 
as  a  Christian,  he  had  acquitted  himself  no  less  honorably, 
as  a  Christian  minister,  against  the  great  antagonists  of  that 
truth  which  he  had  been  set  to  propagate  and  defend. 

He  had  warred  a  good  warfare  against  Judaism.  Its 
pontiff  and  priests,  its  senators  and  doctors,  Avere  stung  to 
madness  by  the  declaration,  that  the  perfection  and  end  of 
its  institution  were  only  to  be  looked  for  in  the  doctrine 
of  Him  whom  they  had  put  to  death,  as  the  vilest  of  male- 


XXVI.]  THE   PAST  AND   THE  FUTURE.  379 

factors;  that  its  hoary  and  pompous  ritual  should  give 
place  to  a  worship  so  simple,  so  purely  spiritual,  as  would 
spurn  alike  the  altar,  the  victim,  the  priest,  the  temple ; 
that  the  law  to  which  they  were  looking  for  justification 
denounced  their  utter  condemnation,  and  shut  them  up  in 
sin,  the  guilt  of  which  could  only  be  effaced  by  a  repentant 
faith  in  Him  whose  murder  they  had  instigated. 

This  declaration  he  justified  in  their  synagogues  and 
before  their  councils,  by  repeated  appeals  to  his  own  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  the  fact — the  great  central  fact  in  Chris- 
tianity— that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  survived  the  death  of 
his  crucifixion ;  and  by  citing  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
a  multitude  of  other  witnesses,  who  had  conversed  with 
him  repeatedly  and  familiarly  after  his  resurrection ;  who 
had  seen  his  ascension ;  and,  subsequently,  on  the  most 
public  occasions,  attested  their  depositions  by  the  utterance 
of  numerous  foreign  languages,  by  the  healing  of  every 
manner  of  disease,  and  the  raising  of  the  dead. 

This  was  the  doctrine,  and  these  the  facts,  by  which  the 
converted  Jew  invaded  the  principalities  of  Judaism ;  led 
its  captivity  captive,  and  set  in  operation  a  train  of  influ- 
ences by  which,  ultimately,  its  citadel  was  demolished  for 
ever. 

This  doctrine,  and  the  facts  which  constituted  its  per- 
fect demonstration,  armed  him  for  the  overthrow  of  Gen- 
tilism.  He  was  a  chosen  vessel,  chiefly  for  this  purpose, 
to  bear  the  Name  that  saves  to  the  uttermost  before  the 
Gentiles  ;  to  carry  the  ensign  of  his  cross  to  all  nations,  for 
their  obedience  to  the  faith.  Hence  his  emphatic  designa- 
tion as  the  "  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  J^ 

Others  were  provincial  in  their  labors;  his  were  pro- 
jected on  a  scale  marked  by  no  terrestrial  limits.  The 
voluptuous  Asiatic ;  the  polished  Greek  ;  the  haughty  Ro- 
man ;  the  German  citizen,  and  the  German  boor ;  the 
grave  Spaniard;  the  garrulous  Gaul;  the  aboriginal  Bri- 
ton, bibber  alike  of  beer  and  blood ;  all  heard  the  story  of 
the  cross,  and,  touched  with  the  love  of  the  Crucified,  be- 
came his  willing  captives. 

We  have  before  seen  the  spoils  won  by  his  hand  from 
the  obsolete  religion  of  his  ancestors,  and  the  train  laid 
which  issued  in  its  ultimate  explosion:  here  we  witness 
the  countless  trophies  Avrested  from  a  perniciously  false 


380  THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  [SER, 

one;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  elements  were  infused 
which,  in  due  time,  wrought  its  utter  dissolution. 

Such  had  been  the  personal  and  official  conflict  of  this 
dying  servant  of  the  Lord. 

Personally,  the  world,  the  flesh,  had  long  been  nailed  to 
the  cross.  His  infernal  enemies  had  been  baffled  and  over- 
thrown m  every  encounter. 

As  a  minister,  he  had  endured  hardness,  and  made  full 
proof  of  his  divine  commission.  The  enemies  of  the  truth 
had  never  found  him  off  his  guard.  He  had  met  and  re- 
pelled their  onsets.  He  had  made  reprisals ;  and  countless 
and  priceless  were  the  spoils  that  graced  his  triumph. 
Need  we  ask  your  indulgence  for  the  aspiration  with  which 
he  enters  that  triumph? — ^'- 1  have  fought  a  good  Jight" 

2.  "  /  have  finished  my  course."  The  apostle  is  distin- 
guished, as  a  writer,  for  some  peculiarities,  which  show 
him  independent  of  what  the  critics  call  the  rules  of  good 
writing.  One  of  these,  is  the  extent  to  which  he  pursues 
an  idea  suggested  by  some  incidental  word;  especially 
when  it  chances  to  awaken  any  sacrc:!  or  classic  associa- 
tion. This  usus  loquendi  leads  him,  after  his  first  allusion 
to  the  combat,  to  carry  it  on  to  the  r«ce  /  and  then,  as  every- 
thing he  touches  lives,  he  sees  the  ivhite  lines  within  which 
it  must  be  performed :  the  same  association  presents  the 
brabeus,  or  judge ;  nor  is  he  willing  to  omit  the  verdant 
crown  which  he  sees  that  presiding  personage  lay  away  for 
the  fighter  of  the  good  fight,  and  the  finisher  of  the  race. 
The  consequence  of  this  extended  and  complicated  meta- 
phor is,  that  the  same  general  idea  is  more  than  once  pre- 
sented. The  apostle's  life,  as  a  Christian  and  a  minister, 
had  been  exhibited  under  the  notion  of  an  arduous  and 
long-drawn  conflict.  The  race,  which  seizes  on  a  different 
circumstance  of  Isthmian  custom,  adds  beauty  and  light  to 
the  subject ;  but,  still,  the  subject  itself  is  the  same.  If 
this  view  of  the  matter  is  correct,  you  will  expect  me  to 
pass  it  accordingly. 

To  an  audience  differently  constituted,  or  to  yourselves, 
brethren,  under  different  circumstances,  it  might  be  allow- 
able to  enter  into  some  detail  touching  the  matter  of  this 
allusion.     As  it  is,  a  single  glance  must  suffice. 

(1.)  The  first  object  that  strikes  you,  is  the  "great  cloud 


XXVI.]  THE   PAST  AND   THE   FUTURE.  381 

of  witnesses''  Vast  flights  of  seats,  extending  far,  and 
rising  high  above  the  theatre  of  the  contest,  and  filled  with 
dense  masses  of  anxious  spectators,  to  the  number  of 
several  hundred  thousand,  would  naturally  raise,  in  an 
eastern  imagination,  the  idea  of  a  cloud ;  "  a  great  cloud 
of  witnesses." 

(2.)  Next  is  the  mrvpire  of  the  contest,  who,  from  his 
high  seat,  is  prepared  to  mark  the  various  movements  of 
the  scene,  and  who  displays  the  verdant  wreath  which  is  to 
honor  the  head  of  the  successful  competitor. 

(3.)  The  competitors  themselves  enter  the  stadium. 
Trained  for  the  trial  by  a  long  course  of  painful  discipline, 
each,  determined  that  nothing  shall  encumber  the  motion 
on  which  everything  depends,  has  parted,  not  merely  w^ith 
the  ornamental  portions  of  his  apparel ;  but,  literally,  with 
everything. 

(4.)  The  herald  lifts  up  his  voice ;  proclaims  the  names 
of  the  candidates;  the  laws  which  are  to  govern  them 
during  the  contest ;  and,  finally,  gives  the  signal. 

(5.)  The  strife  commences.  The  competitors  do  not  so 
much  run,  as  fly  toward  the  goal.  Every  Imib,  every 
muscle,  strains — labors.  The  eifect  is  agony.  The  pusil- 
lanimous faint.  One  after  another  drops  off.  The  rest 
are  distanced.  He  wdio  has  patience  for  the  pain,  and 
strength  for  the  labor,  and  speed  for  the  flight,  bears  him- 
self on  till  he  gains  the  goal. 

(6.)  The  heavens  peal  with  the  applausive  shouts  of  the 
spectators.  The  palm  he  waves  proclaims  the  victor. 
The  triumphal  wreath  is  his ;  but  it  is  not  presently  be- 
stowed. He  sees  it  "  laid  up "  for  him.  A  short  time 
suffices  to  prepare  the  feast ;  at  which  the  victor  in  the 
race,  with  all  who  have  won  in  the  various  other  exercises, 
is  conspicuously  seated.  The  judge  closes  the  imposing 
ceremonial  by  an  open  proclamation  of  their  respective 
merits,  and  hy  placing  on  their  heads  the  honors  they  have 
respectively  achieved. 

The  application  of  these  matters,  as  far  as  they  are  ap- 
plicable to  the  apostle's  case,  is  self-suggested.  He  entered 
his  course,  as  a  Christian  and  as  a  minister.  He  saw  the 
judge.  He  saw  the  crown.  He  surveyed  the  witnesses. 
He  listened  to  the  conditions,  and  sacrificed  everything  to 


382  THE   PAST  AND   THE   FUTURE.  [SER. 

tlieir  fulfillment.  He  heard  the  signal,  and  threw  all  his 
energies  of  soul  and  body  into  the  conflict.  It  is  over. 
"  /  have  finished  my  course.'' 

3.  "  /  have  kept  the  faith — I  have  maintained  the  true 
doctrines  of  Christ."  Or,  which  seems  more  likely  to  be 
the  author's  meaning,  "  I  have  kept  the  faith,  in  the  sense 
of  oheying  it."  Thus  understood,  the  phrase,  instead  of 
dropping  the  metaphor,  sustains  it :  thus,  "  I  have  finished 
both  the  combat  and  the  race,  in  accordance  with  the  pub- 
lished conditions.  In  regard  to  my  course,  especially ;  I 
made  ray  outset  by  incurring  the  loss  of  all  things.  I 
kept  within  the  lateral  lines  ;*  love  to  God,  on  the  one 
hand,  leading  me  to  consult  his  will  and  seek  his  glory  as 
the  rule  and  end  of  my  every  action  ;  love  to  man,  on  the 
other,  engaging  me  to  sacrifice  wealth  and  ease,  and 
friends  and  fame,  and  to  labor  with  travail  night  and  day, 
that  they  might  be  saved.  Patient  of  protracted  suffering, 
and  far  from  reposing  from  it  for  a  single  moment,  as  if 
nothing  had  been  done  while  anything  remained  to  he  done, 
I  left  the  things  that  were  behind,  and  pressed  on,  reached 
forward,  to  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  my  high  calling  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Such  w^ere  the  conditions  of  my 
liigh  probation.  I  look  back  on  them  with  satisfaction. 
They  are  fulfilled.     I  have  kept  the  faith.'" 

With  him  we  turn  from  the  survey  of  his  past  fideli- 
ty, to 

II.  The  PROSPECT  of  his  future  glorious  reward. 

If  the  past  moves  him  to  exultation,  the  future  enkin- 
dles ecstasy.  The  one  awakens  in  his  dungeon  the  approv- 
ing voice  of  conscience  ;  the  other  irradiates  it  with  beams 
from  his  promised  diadem  and  the  face  of  God.  Language 
has  no  adequate  signs  for  such  glorious  things ;  but,  with 
such  as  he  can  command,  he  characterizes  the  image  that 
has  taken  possession  of  his  soul.  His  period  rises : — 
"  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness, lohich  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at 
that  day.''  The  imagery  is  still  Isthmian ;  only,  to  bring 
it  up  to  his  subject,  he  displaces  the  mere  brabeus  of  the 

*  "  Lateral  lines ;"  that  is,  white  lines  on  the  right  and  left,  within 
which  the  athletse  were  to  keep  themselves  till  the  race  was  concluded. 
^^  I  have  kept  the  faith ^^^  h  considered  as  an  allusion  to  this  circum- 
stance. 


XXVI.J  THE   PAST  AND   THE   FUTURE.  383 

figure,  by  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge  ;  and  the  crown 
o^  oak  or  olive  leaves,  gives  place  to  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness, unfading  and  endless. 

Two  things  are  understood  and  taught  here,  with  regard 
to  the  future  reward  of  the  saints :  first,  the  nature  ;  and 
secondly,  the  time  of  it. 

1.  As  to  the  nature  of  it,  it  is  a  reward  of  righteousness. 
Righteousness,  as  a  general  term,  expresses  the  idea  of 
moral  perfection.  Understood  with  regard  to  man,  it  sig- 
nifies his  conformity  to  divine  requirement,  in  the  holiness 
of  his  affections  and  conduct.  The  crown  of  righteousness 
has  been  explained  by  some,  as  representing,  merely,  the 
glory  and  bliss  with  which  the  consummated  holiness  of  the 
believer  will  invest  and  inspire  him  in  the  future  state. 
According  to  this,  holiness,  and  sin  also  by  an  obvious  con- 
sequence, would  involve  their  own  proper  reward  and 
punishment.  Then,  waiving  other  consequences,  the  pub- 
lic judgment  could  have  no  object  beyond  the  exhibition 
of  a  fact,  equally  known  without  such  a  judgment  as  with 
it,  namely,  that  holiness  produces  happiness,  and  vice  versa. 
This,  besides  an  utter  disappointment  of  human  expectation, 
based  on  the  common-sense  interpretation  of  the  juridical 
language  of  the  Bible  on  this  subject,  would  falsify  such 
declarations  as  these :  "  It  is  a  righteous  thing  with  God 
to  recompense  tribulation  to  tliem  that  trouble  you,  and 
rest  to  you  who  are  troubled,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall 
be  revealed  from  heaven  in  flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance 
on  them  that  know  not  God,  and  that  obey  not  the  gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  be  punished  with  ever- 
lasting destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  and  the 
glory  of  his  power,  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in 
his  saints — in  that  day."  The  possession  and  enjoyment 
of  holiness,  therefore,  cannot  constitute  the  proper  reward 
of  the  saints,  any  more  than  the  consciousness  of  the  Olym- 
pic wrestler,  that  he  had  lawfully  mastered  his  antagonist, 
could  justly  be  conceded  to  him  in  place  of  the  promised 
prize  by  which  his  painful  efforts  had  been  animated. 
Holiness,  even  now,  lifts  up  the  apostle's  head  with  joy ; 
but  the  crown  of  righteousness,  though  hovering  over,  has 
not  yet  descended  on  it. 

Holiness,  by  the  constitution  of  its  ever-blessed  Author, 
produces  happiness  under  all  external  circumstances,  in- 


384  THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  [SER. 

differently  ;  among  the  friends,  or  the  enemies  of  God ;  in 
physical  ease,  or  suffering  ;  in  the  body,  or  out  of  it ;  among 
the  sons  of  earth,  or  the  sons  of  heaven.  But,  while  holi- 
ness does  this,  it  constitutes  the  mere  meetness  for  future 
reward.  The  reward  itself  is  a  valuable  consideration, 
not  naturally  belonging  to  it,  as  an  effect  to  its  cause ;  but 
appended  to  it  by  the  positive  act  of  God.  That  act  will 
confer  the  following,  among,  perhaps,  other  immunities 
and  privileges,  neither  of  which,  it  will  be  perceived,  would 
result  from  holiness,  by  any  causing  influence  in  the  thing 
itself 

(1.)  Physical  reorganization  on  principles  excluding  for 
ever  all  kindred,  that  is,  physical,  disorders  introduced 
by  sin. 

(2.)  Perfect  and  everlasting  security  against  defection 
from  moral  rectitude. 

(3.)  Everlasting  exclusion  from  the  presence  of  all  im- 
pure beings  and  influences. 

(4.)  Incorporation  in  the  scheme  of  an  endlessly  pure 
and  happy  society  ;  the  society  of  saints  and  angels. 

(5.)  Restrainless  access  to  the  immeasurable  theatre  on 
Avhich  Jehovah,  through  the  medium  of  his  works,  will 
unfold  his  glorious  perfections  for  ever. 

(6.)  And,  above  all,  a  near  and  intense  gaze  on  the  un- 
veiled face  of  God  incarnate,  in  whom  all  the  Father's  and 
the  Spirit's  glory  will  shine  for  ever ;  a  gaze  which,  by  a 
rapid  process,  will  assimilate  the  subject  to  the  object,  in 
soul*and  body,  through  everlasting  ages. 

The  righteousness  which  gives  character  to  this  reward, 
is  so  denominated  in  view  of  three  great'  facts. 

The  first,  is,  the  perfect  equivalent  which  the  sacrifice 
of  Christ  presents  to  divine  justice,  not  only  for  the  perfect 
forgiveness  and  the  perfect  holiness  of  all  who  believe  in 
him ;  but  for  the  glorification  of  all  their  souls  and  bodies 
in  heaven,  for  ever  and  ever. 

The  second  consideration  to  which  the  term  refers,  is, 
the  moral  adaptation  to  endless  happiness,  of  which  the 
infused  holiness  of  God  possesses  the  believer.  The  holi- 
ness is  the  holiness  of  God  ;  the  happiness  is  the  happiness 
of  God.     Eternal  fitness  demands  their  connection. 

The  third  fact  embodied  in  the  divine  economy,  in  sight 
of  which  future  reward  is  called  a  crown  of  righteousness, 


XXVI.]  THE  PAST  AND   THE  FUTURE.  885 

is,  that  the  truth  of  God  binds  him  to  the  bestowment  of  it. 
God  could  not  be  righteous  if  he  were  not  true.  The 
righteousness  of  God  is  often,  and  here  in  the  text  espe- 
cially, put  for  that  veracity  which  constitutes  an  essential 
part  of  it.  When  Jehovah  promises,  his  righteousness, 
taking  the  form  of  truth,  or  faithfulness,  demands  perform- 
ance. But  he  has  promised  everlasting  glory  to  them  that 
believe  ;  the  communication  of  that  glory,  therefore,  is  due, 
not  so  much  from  him  to  them,  as  from  him  to  himself. 
That  glory,  then,  is  the  crown  which  his  righteousness — 
his  ti'tcth  ;  his  immutable  faithfulness  ;  all  his  infinite  per- 
fections— will  require  him  to  give  the  obedient  believer  at 
that  day. 

With  these  few  remarks  on  the  nature  of  the  glorious 
reward,  let  us  fix  our  eye  for  a  few  moments, 

2.  On  the  time  of  it :  "  That  day''  This  refers,  as  we 
shall  consider  a  little  hereafter,  to  the  time  of  the  appear- 
ing of  the  righteous  Judge,  and  the  institution  of  the  gene- 
ral judgment  ;  immediately  and  indispensably  previous  to 
which  will  be  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 

What  becomes  of  the  soid,  in  the  mean  time  ?  St.  Paul 
has  been  disembodied  nearly  eighteen  centuries.  Where 
is  he  ?  Where  are  the  recent,  where  the  ancient  dead  ; 
the  dead  in  the  Lord  ?  How  do  they  pass  the  intermediate 
time  ?     What  is  the  intermediate  state  ? 

It  must  be  confessed  that,  as  if  it  were  a  matter  of  com- 
parative insignificance,  inspiration  has  left  a  dimness  about 
this  whole  subject.  It  sheds  no  dubious  light  on  the  form 
of  the  life  beghming  at  the  resurrection.  Apostles,  mar- 
tyrs and  confessors,  sustained  themselves  under  all  their 
sufferings  b}'  a  fixed  ^aze  on  that  great  era.  On  the  ob- 
ject of  our  present  inquiry  they  bestowed  an  occasional 
glance,  indeed ;  but,  after  all,  it  is  left  to  us,  so  that,  like 
the  spirit  that  appeared  to  Eliphaz,  we  cannot  discern  the 
form  thereof.  A  general  reason  for  this  must  be,  that  it 
is  an  object  that  involves  only  a  temporary,  and  not  the 
eternal  interest  of  man. 

But  the  soul  survives  its  body.  Centuries  after  the 
deaths  of  the  three  great  patriarchs,  a  voice  from  the  burn- 
ing bush  said,  "  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God 
of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob."  If  Abraham  and  the 
rest  were  not  then  existing,  the  God  of  truth  could  not 
17 


386  THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  [SER. 

have  asserted,  as  he  does  here,  an  existing  relation  be- 
tween himself  and  them :  he  could  only  have  said,  I  was 
the  God  of  Abraham.  If  Abraham  did  not  then  exist, 
God  declared  himself  the  God — of  nobody — of  nothing. 
But,  as  our  Saviour  argues,  he  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead, 
but  of  the  living ;  but  he  is  Abraham's  God  ;  therefore 
Abraham  lives. 

The  disciples  of  our  Lord,  as  the  Jews  generally,  be- 
lieved in  the  existence  of  "  angels  and  spirits  ;"  that  is,  hu- 
man spirits,  as  well  as  angels.  Our  Saviour  was  so  far  from 
correcting  that  general  impression,  that  he  countenanced 
it  in  the  most  unquestionable  manner.  Passing  other  in- 
stances, fix  your  attention  here :  the  risen  Redeemer  sud- 
denly enters  the  assembly  of  his  followers  ;  they  are  terri- 
fied and  affrighted,  supposing  him  a  spirit.  I  need  not 
ask,  what  common,  to  say  nothing  of  divine  compassion, 
would  have  led  him  to  do  with  the  matter  of  such  a  fear, 
admitting  it  had  been  groundless.  How  does  he  treat  it  ? 
"  Handle  me,  and  see  ;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones 
as  ye  see  me  have." 

He  was  not  then  a  disembodied  spirit ;  but  he  had  been ; 
and,  as  such,  had  fulfilled  his  appointment  to  meet  the  sup- 
plicating thief  in  paradise  ;  as  such,  also,  though  he  did  not 
permanently  remain  there,  he  had  visited  hades,  whether 
regarded  as  identical  with  paradise  or  not.* 

The  discourse  of  the  rich  man  and  the  beggar  is  decisive, 
whether  you  call  it  a  narrative  or  a  parable.  If  a  narra- 
tive, there  can  be  no  question  ;  if  a  parable,  there  should  be 
none.  The  imagery  of  our  Saviour's  parables  is  derived, 
not  from  fancied,  but  real  life.  There  is  absolutely  no  in- 
vented material  in  one  of  them.  It  were  easy  to  justify 
this  proposition  by  analysis.  For  the  present  we  shall 
rest  the  matter  here.  The  account  in  question  is  either  a 
narrative  of  facts,  or  an  allusion  to  facts.  On  either  sup- 
position it  results,  most  undeniably,  that  the  spirits  of  good 
and  evil  men  pass,  immediately  after  death,  into  another 
state  of  conscious  existence. 

If  spirit  were  inseparable  from  its  present  corporeal  or- 

*  Hades,  in  strictness  of  construction,  is  a  genus ;  of  which  tar- 
tarus  with  gehenna,  on  the  one  hand,  and  paradise  with  Abraham's 
bosom,  on  the  other,  are  species. 


XXVI.]  THE  PAST  AND   THE   FUTURE.  387 

ganization,  why  did  the  first  of  Christian  martyrs  ask  the 
Lord  Jesus  to  receive  his  spirit  ? 

If  the  soul  can  only  be  present  with  the  Lord  in  connec- 
tion with  the  body,  what  led  the  author  of  our  text  to 
depend  on  absence  from  the  body  as  a  means  of  obtaining 
that  object  ?  What  made  him  speak  of  becoming  ahseni 
from  the  body,  at  all,  if  he  and  his  body  were  to  be  blend- 
ed in  a  common  unconsciousness  till  revivified  in  the 
resurrection  ?  If  he  knew  that  he  could  never  leave  his 
body,  why  does  he  talk  of  departing  from  it,  and  of  being 
ivith  Christ,  as  the  consequence  ?  According  to  this  sup- 
position, he  was  aware  that,  after  death,  he  would  know 
nothing,  enjoy  notliing,  do  nothing,  for  many  ages  ;  and 
yet  affirmed,  "  For  me,  to  die  is  gain,  and  far  better  than 
living  in  the  body ;"  that  is,  than  li\dng  to  serve  Christ, 
and  rejoice  in  him  evermore  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory.  The  supposition  carries  a  heavy  load  of  other 
absurdities.  These,  however,  have  more  than  weight 
enough  to  sink  it  to  the  centre  of  its  native  abyss.  Let  its 
descent  be  swift,  and  followed  by  no  resurrection !  "  He 
that  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die  ;"  he  shall 
not  only  not  finally  die,  but  he  shall  not  die  during  any 
time  ;  he  shall  never  die. 

To  this  extent  the  testimony  is  explicit.  The  disem- 
bodied human  soul  of  Jesus  lived.  The  soul  of  the  apostle ; 
the  souls  of  all  the  saints,  all  souls,  live  in  the  same  man- 
ner ;  that  is,  separated  from  the  terrestrial  body.  Whether 
c?^sembodied  spirits,  however,  are  ?«?zembodied ;  whether 
in  a  state  of  abstract  spirituality,  or  provided,  for  the  time, 
with  organizations  of  attenuated  matter,  is  a  point  not  so 
easy  of  determination.  Nor,  happily  for  us,  though  deeply 
interesting  as  an  object  of  philosophical  inquiry,  is  it  a  point 
in  theology  on  which  any  practical  consequences  depend. 

The  same  remark,  though  with  considerable  abatement, 
may  be  made  as  to  the  ubi,  the  where,  of  spirits  separated 
from  the  body.  We  know  that  the  sheol  of  the  Hebrew, 
and  the  hades  of  the  Greek  Scriptures,  express  the  idea 
of  the  place  of  departed  souls.  But  where  that  is,  or  what 
the  physical  and  intellectual  condition  of  those  inhabiting 
its  obscure  regions,  are  questions  to  which  those  Scriptures 
give  no  direct  response. 


388  THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  [SER. 

Their  moral  state  is  left  in  less,  I  may  say,  no  uncer- 
tainty. The  impure  are  attended,  more  or  less,  by  a 
consciousness  of  their  impurity,  and  the  hopelessness  of 
emerging  from  their  dreary  prison.  The  holy  are  sensible 
of  God's  favor ;  and  the  holiest^  at  least,  are,  in  a  vastly 
more  blissful  sense  than  ever  they  had  been  in  the  body, 
"  present  with  the  Lord." 

The  time  will  be  long  or  short  to  them,  mainly,  as  they 
are  connected,  or  unconnected,  by  material  organizations 
of  their  own,  with  the  machinery  of  the  universe,  whose 
varied,  but  equable  motions,  form  the  standard  by  which 
all  our  impressions  on  this  subject  are  governed.  With- 
drawn from  the  material  universe,  the  mind  could  have  no 
other  notices,  as  to  the  movement  of  time,  than  those  fur- 
nished by  the  succession  of  ideas  in  the  mind  itself.  So 
that,  were  that  succession  rapid,  time  would  be  long ;  if 
the  mental  changes  were  few,  time  would  be  short;  and 
if  the  mind  were  held  precisely  in  the  same  state,  time  would 
have  no  motion.  The  whole  period,  intermediate  to  death 
and  the  resurrection,  would  be  an  indivisible  moment. 

It  is  manifest  that  absolute,  is  different  from  apparent 
time  ;  God's  from  ours.  For  "  a  thousand  years,"  by  our 
standard,  are  but  "  one  day,"  according  to  his.  Whether 
separate  spirits  measure  their  duration  by  his  rule  or  ours, 
or  some  other  different  from  both,  must  depend  on  the 
relations  they  hold  to  the  two  worlds  of  matter  and  mind ; 
relations  which  we  must  die  to  know. 

One  deduction  we  think  may  be  made  with  perfect 
safety ;  and  that  is,  that,  however  advanced  their  happi- 
ness beyond  that  of  the  mortal  condition,  theirs  is  a  state 
of  privation,  considered  with  regard  to  the  result  of  the 
next  gi'cat  change  to  which  they  are  tending.  That  result 
will  take  in  the  release  of  their  bodies  from  the  grave,  and 
their  souls  from  hades  ;  for  "  death  and  hades  shall  deliver 
up  the  dead  which  are  in  them."  Then  cometh  the  end ; 
when  the  Lord  Jesus,  having  saved  his  people  from  all  the 
consequences  of  the  fall,  shall  perform  the  last  great  act 
which  closes  his  mediatorial  government,  by  presenting 
them  faultless  before  his  Father's  face ;  perfectly  worthy 
through  his  righteousness  ;  perfectly  worthy  through  his 
nature  imparted  to  them,  of  being  made  partakers  of  his 
everlasting  glory. 


XXVI.]  THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  389 

He  shall  give  it  to  "  me  at  that  day.^^  This  is  one  of  the 
frequent  instances  in  which  the  inspired  writers  employ 
the  ellipsis ;  a  form  of  expression  in  which  something 
necessary  to  the  sense  is  left  to  be  supplied  by  the  reader. 
Two  cases  in  which  the  same  phrase,  employed  in  the  same 
connection,  is  elliptical  by  our  author,  it  may  be  pertinent 
to  cite  :  "  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed 
to  him  to  that  day  J'  "  The  Lord  grant  that  Onesiphorus  may 
obtain  mercy  in  that  day"  In  the  text,  however,  nothing 
more  is  necessary  in  supplying  the  deficient  thought,  than 
to  bring  back  into  the  text,  what  is  matter  of  immediate 
statement  in  the  following  context:  ^'And  not  to  me  only, 
hut  to  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing."  This  under- 
stood, the  sense  of  the  text  is :  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
Judge,  shall  give  to  me  a  crown  of  righteousness  in  that 
day  of  his  appearing. 

This  "  appearing,"  as  is  shown  by  the  judicial  designa- 
tion of  the  divine  person  who  is  the  subject  of  it,  is  to  be 
for  specifically  judicial  purposes.  What  those  purposes 
are,  the  author  of  our  text  has  elsewhere  stated,  with  a 
clearness  which  precludes  the  necessity  of  quoting  other 
authorities  on  the  subject :  "  It  is  appointed  to  men  once 
to  die,  and  after  this  the  judgment — is  appointed  to  men." 
"Because  God  hath  appointed  a  day  in  which  he  will 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness."  "The  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  shall  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead  at  his  appearing." 

This  last  declaration  associates  one  fact  with  that  "  ap- 
pearing" of  Christ,  to  which  all  the  others  refer,  which 
fixes  the  common  application,  beyond  the  possibility  of 
doubt,  not  to  any  antecedent,  metaphorical  appearing  of 
Christ ;  but  to  his  last  personal  appearing.  He  shall  ap- 
pear. He  shall  appear  for  judgment.  Of  that  judgment, 
the  quick  and  the  dead  shall  be  the  subjects.  He  "  shall 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead  at  his  appearing."  St.  Peter 
has  said,  "  He  is  ready  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead ;" 
that  is,  the  living  and  the  dead;  the  last  of  the  living 
generations  of  mankind,  together  with  all  the  generations 
of  the  dead.  The  latter,  all  the  saints  certainly,  are  to 
hear  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump  of  God,  and, 
in  order  of  time,  rise  first.  Immediately  upon  which,  the 
quick,  that  is,  the  living,  will  feel  the  pulse  of  immortality, 
and  ascend  with  them  to  the  place  of  judgment.    "  For  this 


B0O  THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  [SER. 

we  say  to  you  by  the  word  of  the  Lord,  that  we  which  are 
alive  and  remain  to  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  shall  not  pre- 
vent them  which  are  asleep" — shall  not  come  before  them, 
as  the  subjects  of  the  great  change  from  mortality  to  im- 
mortality— "  for  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  hea- 
ven with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and 
with  the  trump  of  God ;  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall 
rise  first :  then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain " — being 
*'  changed  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye — shall 
be  caught  up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the 
Lord  in  the  air."  This  is  the  day  to  which  the  fear  and 
hatred,  the  hope  and  love,  of  the  holy  and  the  unholy,  have 
been  looking  forward  in  all  ages :  "  the  day  of  judgment 
and  perdition  of  ungodly  men."  Then  "  the  chief  Shep- 
herd shall  appear ;"  the  Pastor  of  the  pastors  ;  from  whom 
those  who  have  been  ensamples  to  the  flock  shall  receive 
a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away. 

That  there  are  secret  reasons,  connected  with  the  coam- 
plicated  interests  of  God's  government,  for  putting  down 
the  final  judgment  to  the  last  day  in  the  calendar  of  time, 
is  more  than  probable.  Some  of  the  reasons  for  it,  how- 
ever, are  necessarily  obvious. 

One  great  reason,  involving  many  others,  lies  in  the 
scale  of  that  probation  from  which  infinite  Wisdom  deter- 
mined that  all  created  intelligences,  angels  and  men  at 
least,  should  ascend  to  confirmed  purity  and  bliss,  if  obe- 
dient; or  sink,  if  disobedient,  to  confirmed  impurity  and 
wo.  Such  a  probation,  from  its  very  nature,  looks  toward 
a  future  retribution ;  as  retribution  necessarily  looks  back 
upon  the  conduct  of  probation. 

A  holy  order  of  intelligences,  of  heavenly  origin,  have 
had  a  probationary  period ;  as  is  evinced  by  the  historic 
fact,  that  some  of  them  "  kept  not  their  first  estate."  Whe- 
ther the  conduct  of  this  order  of  beings  was  the  subject  of 
a  public  investigation  before  or  after  the  delinquent  were 
cast  down  to  tartarus,  or  not,  we  have  no  information.  If 
it  was;  I  speak  now  of  the  latter  class;  if  it  was,  and 
their  sentence  involved  all  the  penalty  to  which  they  were 
then  liable,  it  follows  that  they  were  probationers  after- 
ward, or  that,  after  they  ceased  to  be  so,  they  were 
nevertheless  under  responsibility  for  their  conduct ;  for 
inspiration  declares  them  subject  to  the  coming  judgment, 


XXVI.]  THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  391 

and  that  they  are  foreboding  the  worst  of  consequences 
from  it ;  consequences  personal  to  themselves.  They  "  are 
reserved  in  chains  of  darkness  to  the  judgment  of  the  great 
day."  Whether  they  will  be  judged  and  punished  on 
grounds  involving  no  revision  of  their  former  sentence,  or 
reference  to  transactions  lying  behind  that  event,  or  other- 
wise, it  is  certain  that  they  have  oflSciously  and  malignantly 
intermeddled  with  human  interests  ;  and  there  ought  to  be 
no  doubt  that  this  will  constitute  an  important  ground,  if 
not  the  only  one,  on  which  they  will  be  amenable  to  the 
common  judgment;  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  enters 
among  the  other  reasons  for  the  judgment  itself,  and  for 
the  fixing  of  it  at  that  period  when  the  history  of  man's 
responsible  conduct,  with  which  they  have  voluntarily 
united  their  own,  shall  finally  close.  If  the  state  prisoner, 
under  lighter  punishment  for  his  first  capital  offense,  escape 
from  durance,  and  wrap  a  loyal  province  in  the  flames  of 
a  hellish  mutiny,  reasons  of  state  demand  that  he  be  re- 
arrested; that  his  trial  should  be  as  public  as  his  bad 
example,  and  that  his  new  punishment  should  be  commen- 
surate with  his  new  crimes. 

Our  race  is  upon  probation.  The  original  terms  of  it 
have  been  violated ;  but,  as  redemption  supervenes  upon 
that  event,  the  consequence  is,  that  a  new  trial  is  vouch- 
safed us  on  terms  adapted  to  all  its  peculiarities.  So  much 
of  the  original  penalty  as  demands  physical  dissolution  is 
unabated,  for  reasons  of  present  restraint  and  of  ultimate 
advantage.  On  our  part  this  condition  is  involuntary. 
Others  are  voluntary.  These  are  to  be  performed ;  thaf, 
suffered.  Both  must  operate  till  the  remedial  scheme,  to 
which  both  are  essential,  shall  have  wrought  its  ultimate 
purpose,  which  cannot  be  till  all  probation  closes. 

Man,  as  man,  cannot  answer  for  his  conduct  till  after 
his  physical  restoration.  Man  is  an  amalgam  of  matter 
and  spirit.  Spirit  is  not  man,  any  more  than  matter  is 
man.  Both  are  intimately  blended,  and  the  product  is 
man.  A  being  otherwise  constituted,  could  not  have  been 
the  subject  of  his  original  relation  to  his  Maker.  Other- 
wise constituted,  he  could  sustain  none  of  his  present 
relations.  The  laws  of  human  mind,  and  all  its  operations, 
derive  their  peculiar  characteristics  from  corporeal  con- 
nection.   Thrown  off  from  that  connection,  whatever  might, 


392  THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE.  [SEK. 

or  might  not  follow,  it  would  not  be  what  it  is :  it  would 
not  be  man. 

It  was  man,  proper  man,  whom  God  created  in  his  own 
adorable  image.  It  was  the  compound  being  that  sinned, 
and  let  in  death.  It  was  man,  proper  man,  that  died,  and 
rose,  and  ascended  the  throne  of  Divinity.  His  soul  and 
body  were  both  offered  up  for  the  redemption  of  our  souls 
and  bodies.  It  is  this  blended  being  who  sins,  repents,  be- 
lieves, is  converted,  sanctified ;  who  labors,  suffers,  dies. 
And,  blessed  be  God !  it  is  the  same  man,  the  concrete 
man,  that  rises.  It  is  man,  every  man  that  shall  give 
account  of  himself  to  God ;  and,  by  consequence,  must 
undergo  the  restoring  process  provided  for  in  the  promised 
resurrection.  His  relations  indicate  this  ;  we  might  almost 
say,  prove  it. 

The  close  of  time,  co-terminal  as  it  will  be,  as  well  with 
the  period  of  human  probation,  as  with  that  of  the  medi- 
atorial government  of  his  Son,  cannot  but  constitute  such 
an  epoch  in  the  annals  of  Jehovah's  administration,  as  to 
render  it  most  eligible  for  this  great  judicial  proceeding. 

But  his  own  absolute  determination  of  this  point  shuts 
out  all  question ;  for  "  he  hath  appointed  a  day  in  which 
he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness."  That  day,  as 
we  have  seen,  will  be  neither  before  nor  after,  much  less, 
long  before,  or  long  after  the  close  of  time ;  but  at  that 
point  where  time  melts  into  eternity.  It  will  not  be  after  ; 
for,  while  it  will  awake  the  dead,  it  will  overtake  the  living. 
It  will  not  be  before ;  for,  while  it  will  overtake  the  living, 
it  will  awake  the  dead.  It  will  be  at  that  point  upon  which 
the  living  and  the  dead  will  rally ;  upon  which  the  tides 
of  finite  and  infinite  ages  rush. 

That  is  the  day  that  unfolds  the  scene  of  judgment ;  a 
scene  that  borrows  no  light  from  the  vivid  conflagration  of 
earth  and  heaven.  It  will  bring  its  own  light ;  a  light 
from  which  the  earth  and  the  heavens  shall  vanish.  That 
is  the  day  that  sees  the  judgment  throne,  and  Him  that 
sitteth  thereon  ;  that  sees  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand 
before  God ;  sees  the  opening  of  the  book  of  life  and  the 
book  of  death ;  hears  the  names  that  are  written  therein ; 
listens  to  their  sentence  ;  looks  upon  the  gloomy  procession 
of  the  condemned  on  their  dark  way  to  the  mansions  of  the 
second  death ;  sees  the  coronation  of  the  heirs  of  heaven ; 


XXVII.]  THE  WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  393 

hears  the  coronation  hymn ;  sees  the  flash  of  light  from  the 
opened  portal  of  the  eternal  city,  and  the  triumphal  entry 
of  the  crowned  nation  of  priests  and  kings,  heralded  with 
songs  and  shouts,  and  led  on  by  the  chariot  of  the  King 
of  kings,  and  all  his  attendant  chariots,  which  are  twenty 
thousand,  even  thousands  of  angels. 

Such,  venerable  brethren,  was  the  past,  and  such  the 
future,  as  they  presented  themselves  to  this  faithful  minister 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  at  the  hour  of  his  departure.  The  past 
pours  its  cheering  light  upon  the  present ;  the  future  pours 
its  radiance  on  it  also  ;  both  reflow  the  past ;  reflow  the 
present ;  and  send  the  stream  of  their  united  effulgence  on 
through  the  everlasting  future. 

Such  be  the  hour  of  our  departure.  And  thus,  when 
that  inevitable  hour  shall  overtake  us,  may  the  past  and 
the  future  unfold  themselves  to  us  !     Amen. 


SERMON  XXVII. 
The  Wesleyan  Reformation. 

BY  REV.  B.  F.  TEFFT,  A.  M., 

EDITOR    OF   THE    LADIES'   REPOSITORY. 

"  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies,  and  of  all  the 
truth,  which  thou  hast  showed  unto  thy  servant :  for  with  my  staff  I 
passed  over  this  Jordan,  and  now  I  am  become  two  bands." — Gen. 
xxxii,  10. 

This  language  is  from  the  lips  of  the  patriarch  Jacob. 
He  had  served  his  time  with  Laban,  his  maternal  uncle, 
and  was  returning  with  wealth  and  glory  to  the  land  of  his 
fathers.  His  route  led  him  near  the  north  of  Edom  the 
country  of  his  brother  Esau.  Being  reasonably  suspicious 
of  the  attachment  of  that  brother,  whom  he  had  formerly 
supplanted,  on  reaching  the  borders  of  Edom  he  divided 
his  flocks  and  attendants  into  two  divisions ;  presuming  by 
this  means  to  save  himself  from  utter  extinction,  should  the 
wrath  of  his  kinsman  remain  unabated.  Sending  large 
presents  before  him  to  appease  the  vengeance  of  his  rival, 
he  himself  lingered  in  the  rear  of  the  company,  to  invoke 
17* 


394  THE  WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  [SER. 

the  interposition  of  Heaven  by  prayer  and  supplication. 
The  language  of  the  text  is  a  part  of  his  recorded  de- 
Totions. 

The  feelings  of  the  good  patriarch  may  be  more  easily 
imagined  than  described.  He  had  been  twenty  years  from 
home.  His  success  in  a  distant  country  had  been  the  won- 
der of  his  new  friends.  It  would  be  natural  in  Esau,  who 
had  had  occasion  for  jealousy,  and  whose  temper  was  pro- 
bably less  balanced  than  his  brother's,  to  retain  some  un- 
pleasant emotions.  But  the  frankness  and  confidence  of 
Jacob,  in  laying  open  to  him  his  entire  life  and  successes, 
perfectly  removed  or  allayed  them.  With  a  generosity, 
which  the  founder  of  Idumea  perhaps  never  wanted,  as 
soon  as  he  saw  the  force  of  his  most  fortunate  brother,  he 
ran  to  meet  him,  and,  in  the  words  of  the  inspired  narra- 
tive, "  embraced  him,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed 
him."     And  the  two  brothers  wept. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  decide  which  of  the  two  deserved 
most  for  his  conduct.  Esau,  with  his  four  hundred  men, 
perhaps  warriors,  could  have  taken  summary  vengeance 
for  the  loss  of  his  birthright.  Jacob,  who  might  have  en- 
tered Palestine  at  a  point  higher  up,  and  thus  avoided  the 
danger,  had  the  magnanimity  to  manifest  a  confidence  little 
to  be  expected  and  seldom  witnessed  on  such  occasions. 
They  proved  by  their  mutual  dignity  of  bearing,  that  the 
blood  of  a  noble  parent,  at  that  moment  coursing  more 
proudly  than  ever  in  their  veins,  was  a  birthright  which 
neither  could  relinquish. 

From  the  past  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  present. 
Let  that  scene  be  the  type  of  another.  As  the  old  Jewish 
father,  by  the  inheritance  of  the  Abrahamic  faith,  became 
the  head  of  the  spiritual,  not  less  than  of  the  real,  Israel ; 
so,  like  him,  Christianity  has  met  with  frequent  occasions 
for  giving  to  the  world  an  account  of  its  wonderful  suc- 
cesses. Although  prosperity  in  the  church  is  always  to  be 
traced,  in  the  last  analysis,  to  the  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  yet  it  is  both  Scriptural  and  consistent  to  speak  of 
the  secondary  causes  employed  to  produce  it.  And  since, 
not  only  such  distinguished  men  as  Hume,  Gibbon,  and 
others,  have  attacked  Christianity  with  some  show  of  argu- 
ment, on  the  side  of  these  visible  causes,  but  ordinary  peo- 
ple are  now  every  day  thinking,  if  not  reading,  the  very 


XXVII.]  THE  WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  395 

same  things  so  sophistically  uttered  by  their  superiors ;  it 
may  seem  proper  for  the  friends  of  true  religion  to  call 
public  attention  occasionally  to  this  subject.  But  each 
branch  of  the  Christian  church  can  do  this  most  effectually 
for  itself.  At  this  time,  therefore,  we  shall  speak  for  our- 
selves and  our  doctrine.  The  text  shall  fall  from  the  lips 
of  the  patriarch  of  Methodism,  who,  though  long  since 
gathered  to  his  fathers,  speaks  through  his  descendants 
with  a  voice  to  be  silenced  only  by  the  rejoicings  of  the 
millennium. 

Whether  the  speaker  possesses  the  moral  qualifications 
to  do  this  work  with  suitable  impartiality  and  candor ;  or 
whether  the  age  in  which  we  live  is  prepared  rightly  to 
receive  and  profit  by  such  efforts,  are  questions  to  be  de- 
termined chiefly  by  the  degree  of  heavenly  charity  resting 
upon  the  parties.  As  we  shall  endeavor  not  to  trespass 
on  the  rules  of  courtesy,  nor  go  further  in  our  freedom  than 
he  whom  we  have  chosen  as  our  model,  we  expect  to  be 
met  with  the  same  magnanimous  charity  which  we  have 
seen  manifested  on  a  more  invidious  occasion.  While 
we  are  speaking  and  hearing,  may  the  sweet  influences  of 
our  holy  religion,  and  all  the  light  and  love  of  the  holy 
gospel,  surround  and  pervade  us ! 

I.  The  first  great  secondary  cause  of  the  rapid 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  WeSLEYAN  REFORMATION  WAS  THE 
MEANS  EMPLOYED  IN  ITS  PROPAGATION.  ThE  BODY  OF 
MEN  WHO  BEGAN  AND  PROMOTED  IT  WAS  OF  THE  RIGHT 
COMPOSITION  AND  CHARACTER. 

There  are  three  general  methods  of  establishing  new 
opinions.  The  one,  presuming  on  the  influence  of  birth, 
education,  and  povsition,  employs,  as  its  only  instruments, 
men  of  the  highest  consideration  with  the  public.  The 
second,  distrusting  the  capability,  perhaps  the  sincerity,  of 
tiien  in  so  many  ways  liable  to  be  swayed  by  the  preju- 
dices of  study,  habit,  and  powerful  connections,  makes  use 
of  persons  in  the  lowest  walks  of  life,  whose  characters 
have  at  least  the  plastic  virtue  of  being  susceptible  of  any 
shape  required  by  their  office.  The  third  and  last,  desirous 
of  making  the  entire  public  its  tribunal,  takes  its  servants 
indiscriminately  from  all  the  orders  of  society,  and  as  near 
as  possible  according  to  their  respective  civilization  and 
numbers. 


396  THE  WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  [SER. 

Each  of  these  methods  has  its  good  features.  The  first 
is  certain  to  acquire  the  respect  of  the  higher  classes  ;  but 
it  is  also  equally  calculated  to  rouse  the  hereditary  jea- 
lousies of  the  lower.  From  the  earliest  ages — from,  and 
long  prior  to,  the  days  of  Greece  and  Rome — the  plebeian 
has  dreaded  the  insidious  movements  of  the  patrician. 
The  prejudice  is  inherent  in  his  position;  and  his  suspi- 
cions, so  universally  felt  and  acknowledged,  have  obtained, 
in  a  variety  of  forms,  at  once  the  triteness  and  validity  of 
a  proverb : — 

"  Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes !" 

The  second,  by  encouraging  new  men  to  stand  up  as 
public  instructors,  though  it  may  secure  the  attention  of 
those  not  led  by  the  authority  of  names  and  reputation,  is 
liable,  oftentimes,  to  awaken  the  levity  of  the  lov/er,  while 
it  is  sure  to  call  down  the  sovereign  contempt  of  the  higher, 
classes.  Common  minds,  shut  up  by  jealousy  against  their 
superiors,  by  envy  are  more  perfectly  sealed  against  the 
unseconded  and  unguided  efforts  of  their  equals.  The 
third  method,  being  a  combination,  includes  the  virtues, 
while  it  neutralizes  the  bad  tendencies,  of  the  two  former. 
No  class  of  men  can  possibly  object  to  it.  Each  one  has 
its  representative  in  it.  It  has  enough  of  common  life  to 
reach  and  control  the  sympathies  of  the  masses  ;  and  there 
is  in  it  just  enough  of  sound,  sterling  intellect,  to  give  it 
that  stability  and  discretion  so  much  esteemed  by  the  few 
thoughtful  and  well-educated  people. 

This  was  the  method  of  Mr.  Wesley.  The  new  theo- 
logy, taking  its  origin  in  the  halls  of  the  most  aristocratic 
university  in  the  world,  and  at  first  supported  only  by  men 
bred  up  in  the  schools,  ran  the  risk  of  imbibing  a  spirit  too 
far  above  the  reach  of  ordinary  men.  This  may  sound 
strange  to  some  ears.  But  it  is  historically  true ;  and  had 
the  young  reformers,  with  nothing  but  real  learning  and 
the  starch  of  a  college  life  to  recommend  them,  gone  forth 
on  their  mission,  they  might  have  obtained  the  ear  of  a 
portion  of  the  aristocracy  to  their  speculations,  but  could 
never  have  touched  the  warm  heart  of  a  single  poor  man 
in  his  cabin.  Their  leader  had  the  sagacity  to  foresee 
this  embarrassment.  From  several  facts  it  would  appear, 
that,  prior  to  all  compulsion,  he  had  meditated  a  plan  by 


XXVII.]  THE   WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  397 

which  he  might  have  made  himself  one  with  the  great 
body  of  his  nation.  But  divine  Providence  would  not 
permit  him  to  undertake  it  with  no  better  than  the  ordi- 
nary prospect  of  succeeding.  A  fierce  persecution  rose 
against  him.  The  pulpits  of  his  own  church  were  closed 
and  guarded.  He  was  driven  to  the  fields  and  commons, 
to  the  highways  and  hedges,  where  he  met  the  thousands, 
indignant  at  such  severities,  and  grateful  in  advance  for 
coming  favors.  As  his  field  of  usefulness  expanded  be- 
yond his  means  of  supplying  it  with  the  few  educated  men 
at  his  command,  he  was  forced  to  seek  assistants  among 
the  only  class  of  his  countrymen  which  persecution  and 
bigotry  had  left  him. 

In  this  manner  originated  the  great  leading  cause  of  the 
wonderful  success  of  the  Wesleyan  reform.  The  two  ex- 
tremes of  character  and  talent  were  united.  They  included, 
also,  occasional  specimens  of  all  the  grades  of  intellect  be- 
tween them.  On  the  one  hand,  you  might  see  men 
endowed  with  the  largest  capacities,  enriched  by  all  the 
power  and  grace  of  learning — members  and  fellows  of  the 
universities,  scholars  of  the  highest  titles  and  reputation, 
poets  of  rare  and  sterling  genius,  gentlemen  and  ladies  of 
the  proudest  circles.  On  the  other  hand,  you  behold  a 
mixed  company  of  no  rank  or  worldly  honor.  Accustomed 
to  toil  and  hardships,  no  labor  is  too  much  for  them.  Sen- 
sible of  their  position  in  such  society,  they  are  willing  to 
follow  any  wise  and  judicious  plan  of  efforts.  The  salva- 
tion of  immortal  souls  is  their  only  object.  In  a  word,  you 
now  see  those  days  emulated,  v/hen  Paul  the  rabbi,  and 
Peter  the  fisherman,  uniting  in  their  characters  the  ex- 
tremes of  society  in  the  age  of  Jesus,  made  the  world  reso- 
nant with  the  echo  of  their  doctrines ! 

II.  The  second  immediate  cause  of  prosperity 

TO  THIS  GREAT  ENTERPRISE  IS  TO  BE  FOUND  IN  THE 
OBJECT  O^  WHICH  ITS  ENERGIES  WERE  CHIEFLY  EX- 
ERTED. 

This  was,  by  the  good  providence  of  God,  the  bulk  and 
body  of  the  people. 

The  entire  superstructure  of  society  is  based  on  the 
lower  classes.  From  these  come  always  the  ruling  spirits 
of  a  people.  It  is  a  legal  fiction,  and  as  false  as  it  is  ficti- 
tious, that  the  higher  orders  rule  and  support  the  lower. 


398  THE  WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  [SER. 

The  reverse  is  exactly  true.  In  a  monarchy,  even,  power 
does  not  come  from  the  king  and  proceed  downward.  It 
begins  with  the  many  and  goes  upward.  The  prince,  how- 
ever absolute,  gets  his  authority  originally  from  his  sub- 
jects. When  they  speak,  he  must  listen.  It  is  only  be- 
cause they  speak  not,  that  he  ever  is  despotic.  But  silence 
is  the  consent  of  nations. 

But  kings  and  rulers  have,  after  all,  but  very  little  to 
do,  in  this  age,  with  shaping  the  universal  destiny  of  a 
people.  They  represent  them  only  in  one  great  capacity. 
They  are  the  will  imbodied  of  the  millions,  acting  in  their 
stead  for  stated  purposes.  Under  every  constitutional 
government,  those  purposes  are  very  limited.  But  who 
are  the  great  movers  ?  Go  to  your  cities,  towns,  hamlets — 
visit  a  single  gathering  of  the  citizens — then  answer.  Who 
w^rite  the  books,  preach  the  sermons,  edit  the  periodicals, 
make  the  speeches,  instruct  the  youth,  and  thus  create  the 
public  sentiment  of  an  empire?  Least  of  all,  the  indi- 
viduals of  high  birth  and  fortune.  When  the  condition  of 
a  country,  or  an  age,  becomes  corrupt  and  desperate,  what 
men  produce  lasting  and  useful  revolutions  ?  From  what 
rank  in  life  do  they  chiefly  come  ?  Who  have  been  the 
Tells  and  Washingtons  of  all  ages  ?  And  in  the  church, 
who  was  Vigilantius  ?  Who  were  Huss  and  Jerome  ?  Who 
was  the  immortal  Luther  ?  Who,  in  early  life,  was  the  in- 
comparable Cranmer?  And  who  was  our  own  Wesley? 
Whence  came  these  men  ?  Were  they  the  sons  of  noble- 
men and  princes  ?  Had  they  been,  they  could  have  done 
but  little.  But  it  was  impossible  they  should  be.  To 
suffer  what  they  did,  required  sympathy  with  the  multi- 
tude. The  Saviour  himself  could  not  do  his  w^ork,  till  he 
had  formed  in  his  own  nature  a  bond  of  connection  with 
humanity.  Not  only  all  the  higher  orders  of  society,  and 
all  the  power,  but  also  the  ruling  geniuses,  come  from  be- 
low. Those  to-day  in  a  cabin,  to-morrow  may  sit  in  king's 
houses.  To  whatever  point  w^e  turn,  we  shall  find,  after 
all,  that  the  head  of  society  is  always  carried  by  the  feet 
and  shoulders.  Sound  philosophy,  therefore,  would  have 
designated  the  very  course  actually  pursued  by  our 
fathers. 

But  let  us  be  instructed  further  on  this  subject  by  their 
example.     Let  us  imagine  an  original  itinerant  approach- 


XXVII.]  THE  WESLETAN  KEFORMATION.  399 

ing  the  centre  of  some  populous  district.  No  appointment 
has  been  made  and  duly  published  in  the  papers.  But 
the  probable  course  of  his  travel  is  industriously  and  accu- 
rately conjectured.  Days  before  his  arrival,  the  news  of 
his  coming  has  spread  like  a  proclamation  through  the 
country.  Now,  amidst  a  vast  throng  of  both  sexes,  he 
passes  along  the  road  or  street,  and  stops  in  a  public  mar- 
ket. He  rises.  The  eyes  of  all  are  on  him.  They  are 
now  to  hear  for  themselves  the  persecuted  friend  of  the 
common  people.  The  preacher  knows  his  auditory.  He 
speaks  as  to  an  honest,  but  unlettered,  people.  He  is  him- 
self honest  and  unlettered.  Every  word  is  understood  and 
treasured.  As  he  progresses,  his  spirit  warms  with  the 
object  of  his  mission.  Words  flow  faster  and  faster.  The 
passion  rises  higher  and  higher.  The  intellect  of  the 
audience  has  been  captured  by  good,  sound  reasoning.  The 
heart  and  conscience  have  been  touched  by  the  power  and 
importance  of  the  subject.  The  sympathies  of  every  one 
belonged  in  advance  to  the  ill-treated  stranger.  Now  he 
begins  to  sway  the  vast  throng  as  he  pleases.  Like  a 
troubled  ocean,  it  swells  and  falls  obedient  to  his  object. 
Heaven,  earth,  hell,  are  opened  to  their  vision.  Just  as 
the  tempest  of  eloquence  is  about  to  break  in  all  its  power 
and  glory  on  them,  the  preacher  pauses,  assumes  a  gentle 
manner,  warns  and  entreats  his  hearers — with  his  raised 
finger  pointed  upward — and  then  sits  down,  master,  guide, 
instructor,  of  a  large  portion  of  his  weeping  auditory  for 
the  remainder  of  his  life  I  Having  provided  as  he  could 
for  their  future  welfare,  he  goes  on  his  way  rejoicing,  to 
repeat  his  triumphs  in  other  places. 

Now,  what  other  auditory  could  have  received  this 
work  ?  What  bishop,  what  celebrated  orator,  what  court 
favorite,  could  have  so  reached  and  ruled  his  brilliant  con- 
gregation ?  The  archbishop  of  Canterbury  could  not  have 
done  it.  At  his  regular  visitation,  it  is  true,  the  doors  of 
the  cathedral  are  wide  open.  The  mighty  bell,  from  the 
heart  of  a  populous  city,  announces  his  coming  and  his 
presence  to  a  square  league  of  crowded  territory.  The 
day,  the  hour,  arrives,  and  the  grandees  are  out.  Coaches, 
with  liveried  servants,  hurry  back  and  forward.  The 
concourse  thickens.  A  shout  is  made.  The  king's  chariot 
is  coming  !    The  royal  household  enters.     The  nobility  of 


400  THE  WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  [SER. 

a  kingdom  is  within  ;  a  poor,  ignorant,  friendless,  famishing 
multitude  is  without.  The  great  organ  peals  its  classic 
strains.  The  reading,  the  bowing,  the  pomp,  the  cere- 
mony of  a  religious  fete  begin.  A  brief,  well-written,  it 
may  be  an  eloquent,  address  is  made.  A  thousand  lords 
and  ladies  are  thinking  over  the  latest  gossip  of  the  court ; 
and  a  few  genuine  statesmen  may  be  revolving  the  more 
serious  concerns  of  state.  The  organ  peals  again — a  mo- 
ment more,  and  all — all  is  over.  But  whose  soul  is  saved  ? 
What  new  truth  has  taken  root  ?  What  impetus  has  been 
given  to  the  cause  of  humanity  and  of  God  ?  What  good 
has  been  done  ?  We  answer.  Perhaps  none  at  all ;  and 
we  fear  that  too  often  the  emptied  temple  would  echo  to 
us — none  at  all !  And  had  the  founder  of  Methodism  taken 
this  course  to  reform  the  world,  though  he  might  have 
reached  the  loftiest  station  in  the  church,  he  would  have 
lived  and  died  comparatively  unknown.  His  life,  like  the 
life  of  several  of  his  persecutors,  might  have  been  written 
in  a  single  line — "  Archbishop  Wesley  preached  to  the 
court  on  such  and  such  a  day !" 

Society  is  a  grand  pyramid.  The  so-called  lower  orders, 
the  toiling  millions,  are  at  the  bottom  ;  the  chief  spirit, 
whether  king,  prince,  or  president,  or  it  may  be  some  ora- 
tor, author,  or  transcendent  scholar,  at  the  top.  Between 
these  are  the  various  intermediate  sections  into  which  man- 
kind have  been  divided.  Each  superior  is  supported  by 
its  next  inferior,  and  all  by  the  broad  and  powerful  base. 

Now,  if  this  splendid  structure,  this  pyramid  of  men, 
gets  ruinous,  falls  down  and  requires  rebuilding,  what  is 
the  natural  method  to  be  pursued  in  doing  it  ?  Shall  we 
begin  with  the  apex,  trusting  to  that  to  carry  the  work  of 
reconstruction  downward  ?  Does  the  apex  support,  or  is 
it  only  supported  ?  Or  if  we  wish  to  build  one  with  new 
materials,  what  is  the  method  ?  Do  Ave  not  begin  it  at  the 
bottom  ?  What  architect,  what  philosopher — rather,  what 
child,  would  give  us  any  other  answer  ?  And  this  is  not  a 
law  of  art,  but  of  necessity,  of  nature.  No  superior  por- 
tion can  have  support,  consequently  existence,  till  all  be- 
low it  is  properly  built  up.  All  motion,  all  labor,  all  im- 
provement, is  from  the  lower  to  the  higher.  This  was  the 
Wesleyan  method  of  procedure.  Our  work  began  down 
in  the  dirt  and  darkness.    It  is  now  quite  above  the  middle. 


XXVII.]  THE  WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  401 

It  is  yet  going  upward.  It  will  continue  to  go  upward, 
until  it  is  completed.  Nothing  on  the  earth,  or  under  the 
earth,  can  stop  it.  Two  millions  of  men — men  not  parti- 
cularly dainty  of  a  little  labor — intend  to  see  the  top  stone  laid 
on  with  shoutings.  The  stability  of  the  Wesleyan  pyramid 
will  be  derived  from  the  materials  used  in  its  construction. 

And  what  are  those  materials  ?  Whatever  else  may  be 
said,  we  have  not  committed  the  error  of  many  of  our  pre- 
decessors. We  have  not,  like  the  Christians  of  other  ages, 
by  spending  all  our  efforts  on  the  learned  and  noble, 
swept  into  our  communion  a  class  of  men  above  all 
others  most  likely  to  retain  impregnably  the  prejudices  of 
their  education.  We  have  no  Gnostics,  who  cannot  for- 
get the  specious  glitter  of  oriental  learning.  We  have 
brought  in  no  philosophers,  intolerant  of  everything  that 
does  not  square  with  the  classic  fictions  of  Rome  and 
Athens.  We  have  bowed  to  no  scholastic  jargon,  that 
strives  to  put  Christianity  itself  into  the  straight  jacket  of 
human  logic.  In  a  word,  in  the  construction  of  our  glori- 
ous fabric,  we  have  made  no  attempts  to  demolish  others, 
and  thus  build  up  with  other  men's  materials.  We  have 
visited  no  ruins,  we  have  rifled  no  fallen  temples,  to  get 
here  and  there  a  polished  block,  or  a  beautiful  column,  or 
a  slab  of  variegated  mosaic,  to  adorn,  while  it  might  disfi- 
gure and  weaken,  our  solid  structure.  Our  artists  have 
been  troubled  with  no  such  unmanageable  matter.  They 
went,  hammer  and  drill  in  hand,  to  the  native  quarry. 
They  blew  up  the  massive  beams  of  rock  by  the  power  of 
their  own  enginery.  Every  foot  of  it  has  been  cut,  and 
squared,  and  fitted  by  themselves,  and  according  to  the 
original  pattern.  The  work  now  shows  itself,  as  far  as  it 
has  gone  up,  one  single  mass  of  granite.  The  polishers 
have  begun  to  scour  and  smooth  the  surface.  They  are 
following  up  the  men  of  rock  and  j;Qortar.  The  last  stone 
is  destined  to  be  laid.  The  hand  of  the  burnisher  will 
yet  reach  the  apex.  Then  our  work  of  centuries,  like  a 
tower  of  strength,  shall  stand  up,  its  sides  and  summit  flash- 
ing in  the  light  of  heaven,  a  monument  for  coming  ages  ! 

III.  But  there  is  a  third  cause  of  our  great 
SUCCESSES.  The  character  of  our  opinions  has 
been  such  as  to  insure  us  a  favorable  reception. 

At  first  despised,  because  totally  misunderstood,  they 


402  THE  WESLEYAN   REFORMATION.  [SER. 

have  been  gradually  acquiring  the  confidence  of  the  public. 
"When  carefully  and  candidly  examined,  they  have  seldom 
failed  to  be  respected  ;  not  unfrequently,  they  are  admired 
and  lauded.  But,  to  give  each  his  own  opportunity  of 
private  judgment,  we  shall  conclude  our  remarks  by  pre- 
senting a  brief  analysis  of  our  theological  system  ;  and,  in 
order  to  be  sufficiently  explicit,  we  will  state  the  number 
of  our  points  in  passing. 

1.  The  Wesleyan  theology  was  an  attem'pt  to  recover  and 
imhody  the  primitive  ideal  of  Christianity. 

There  must  have  been  a  period  when  the  plan  of  human 
salvation  existed  solely  in  the  mind  of  its  great  Author. 
It  was  among  his  thoughts  as  an  ordinary  intellection.  He 
had  uttered  it  to  no  being.  It  then  existed  as  an  idea 
only.  Foreseeing  the  creation  and  fall  of  man,  the  whole 
system  of  redemption  must  have  been  at  once  complete  and 
perfect  in  the  mind  of  Him  who  sees  the  end  from  the 
beginning.  When,  in  the  revolving  cycles  of  eternity,  that 
idea  was  uttered,  it  became  in  the  person  who  received  it 
the  Word — the  Aoyog — so  beautifully  described  by  John 
in  his  memoirs  of  the  Messiah.  That  Word,  he  says,  was 
subsequently  made  flesh  ;  and,  in  the  form  and  fashion  of 
a  man,  dwelt  among  us.  The  life  of  that  man  was  the  de- 
velopment of  the  original  idea ;  and  the  pattern,  or  ideal, 
of  all  true  theology.  It  was  afterward  portrayed,  not  by 
human  power  or  genius,  but  by  express  inspiration,  in 
books  written  for  the  purpose.  Those  books,  therefore, 
are  the  ideal  in  the  state  of  record.  When  it  shows  itself 
in  a  man,  or  in  many  men,  as  in  a  church,  it  is  then  the 
ideal  in  the  state  of  life  and  action.  If  it  is  entirely  pure, 
unmixed  with  human  dogmas,  then  the  living  and  the  re- 
corded ideal  perfectly  correspond ;  there  is  a  sweet  and 
holy  consciousness  of  unity ;  revelation  is  but  the  image 
of  our  own  being.  Th^ii  there  is  no  mystery  in  its  pages. 
The  life  it  only  speaks  of,  we  have  in  reality  ;  Christ  him- 
self being  formed  within  us.  We  then  know  by  experience 
the  full  meaning  of  the  wonderful  sayings — "  God  in 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself  f  and — "  Through 
him  we  both  have  access  by  one  Spirit  unto  the  Father .'" 

The  Bible  and  the  church,  therefore,  when  pure  and  un- 
corrupted,  equally  represent  the  ideal  of  our  faith.  But, 
unfortunately,  both  are  liable  to  corruption.     The  auto- 


XXVII.]  THE  WESLEYAN  BEFOKMATION.  403 

graphs  of  the  former,  and  the  inspired  representatives  of 
the  latter,  have  long  since  passed  away.  Their  places 
have  been  supplied  respectively,  first,  by  numerous  copies 
and  translations,  and  secondly,  by  numberless  individual 
professors  and  bodies  of  Christian  people.  As  the  true 
recorded  ideal  undoubtedly  exists  somewhere  in  the  re- 
maining manuscripts,  versions,  and  editions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  so,  we  have  equal  reason  to  believe,  the  living  ideal 
is  yet  extant  somewhere  within  the  great  body  of  the 
church  universal.  To  recover  the  former,  no  one  edition, 
version,  or  manuscript,  is  exclusively  followed,  but  all 
within  reach  are  brought  together  and  collated.  In  the 
same  manner,  the  latter  is  scarcely  to  be  expected  whole 
and  without  mixture  in  any  one  division  of  the  professing 
followers  of  Christ,  but  is  sought  with  much  confidence  by 
a  liberal  comparison  of  all  the  leading  branches  of  the 
Christian  church.  And,  because  it  is  more  easy  to  cor- 
rupt hearts  than  books,  when  both  the  recorded  and  living 
ideals  are  measurably  restored,  the  latter,  in  any  contra- 
riety between  them,  must  yield  in  authority  to  the  former  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  when  they  agree,  their  unanimity 
is  the  highest  possible  evidence  of  the  truth. 

Such  were  evidently  the  principles  followed  by  our 
fathers  in  the  restoration  of  primitive  Christianity.  They 
did  not,  with  the  Romanists,  set  up  the  life  of  the  church, 
much  less  the  life  of  any  one  part  of  it,  as  the  supreme 
authority,  and  then  adopt  as  corroborating  testimony  one 
only  of  the  numerous  editions  of  the  Bible,  merely  because 
it  more  nearly  corresponded  with  that  life  ;  nor,  with  ultra 
Protestants,  did  they  receive  the  corrected  text  of  revela- 
tion as  affording  us  our  only  light,  and  thereby  totally 
exclude  the  genuine  Christian  experience  of  all  ages.  The 
Bible  they  presented  as  our  only  standard,  but  receiving 
much  valuable  exposition  from  the  practices  and  opinions  of 
the  primitive  Christians.  Being,  therefore,  neither  Catho- 
lics nor  Puritans,  but  occupying  middle  and  more  tenable 
ground  between  them,  they  have  made  us  the  true  conserva- 
tives in  the  church  of  God,  and  the  most  successful  modern 
advocates  of  the  faith  of  the  original  apostolic  fathers. 

2.  The  analysis  which  the  Wesley  an  theology  gives  of  the 
ideal  is  at  once  simple,  natural,  and  intelligible. 

It  bedns  with  the  doctrines  of  man's  wickedness.     It 


404  THE   WESLEYAN   REFORMATION.  [SER. 

maintains  that  he  is  not  what  God  created  him;  that  his 
whole  nature  is  lapsed  and  fallen  ;  and  that  self-restoration, 
particularly  if  we  include  the  idea  of  originating  the  means 
of  that  restoration,  is  totally  beyond  his  power.  In  the 
next  place,  our  attention  is  directed  to  the  redemption 
made  for  the  whole  human  family,  by  the  death  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Every  individual  is  by  this  redemp- 
tion rendered  capable  of  working  out  his  personal  salva- 
tion. But,  in  order  to  this,  the  heart  must  be  renewed  by 
the  special  influences  of  God's  Spirit ;  and  that  paramount 
love  of  the  Supreme  Being,  so  necessary  to  the  harmony 
and  happiness  of  creation,  and  which  we  lost  by  the  over- 
whelming sin  of  the  fall,  must  become  again  the  ruhng 
principle  in  the  soul.  In  all  parts  of  this  great  work,  the 
mind  co-operates  with  the  aid  afforded  without  constraint. 
Nothing  is  offered  to  it,  or  done  in  it,  which  it  cannot 
refuse  or  resist.  As  accepting  the  overtures  of  God, 
from  all  eternity,  in  view  of  our  finally  doing  so,  we  are 
divinely  elected — you  may  say  especially  elected — to  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints  ;  "  God  hath,  froni  the  beginning, 
chosen  you  to  salvation,  through  sanctilication  of  the  Spirit 
and  belief  of  the  truth."  When  a  person  chooses  God 
for  his  portion,  and  receives  the  full  earthly  benefit  of  di- 
vine goodness,  the  essential  freedom  of  the  mind  is  in  no 
degree  abridged,  but  the  whole  work  of  grace  internally 
perfoimed  may  even  then  be  relinquished,  periled,  lost,  by 
a  new  and  persevering  course  of  iniquity  and  transgres- 
sion. Thus,  in  this  system,  while  mercy  is  entirely  the 
free  gift  of  God,  the  responsibiUty  of  salvation  is  as  exclu- 
sively our  own. 

These  are  the  five  points  in  the  theology  of  our 
church.  The  necessity  of  regeneration,  the  universality 
of  the  atonement,  the  free  co-operation  of  the  soul  in  every 
work  of  grace,  an  election  to  heaven  through  hohness  as 
the  fruit  of  our  faith,  and  the  awful  danger,  at  any  stage 
of  our  progress,  of  forfeiting  salvation  by  a  return  to  sin, 
are  the  leading  features  of  that  system  so  generally  intel- 
ligible to  the  common  sense  of  mankind.  Those  acquaint- 
ed with  the  history  of  Christian  theology  will  perceive 
precisely  how  much  has  been  appropriated  of  the  deep  and 
honest  research  of  the  Arminian  divines.  But  Mr.  Wes- 
ley, acknowledging  them  as  his  principal  assistants  in  the 


XXVII.]  THE   WESLEYAN   REFORMATION.  405 

recovery  of  our  faith,  with  an  originality  peculiarly  his 
own,  besides  epitomizing  and  simplifying  their  work,  made 
invaluable  additions  to  it  in  the  doctrines  of  sanctification 
and  the  witness  of  the  Spirit.  That  man  is  capable  of 
complying  fully  with  the  command,  to  love  God  with  all 
his  heart ;  and  that  the  Spirit  gives  us  a  personal  assur- 
ance, called  the  witnessing  of  the  Spirit,  of  our  acceptance 
through  faith,  was  established  by  arguments  to  this  day 
entirely  unanswered  by  any  who  have  set  themselves  in 
opposition  to  the  truth.  And  the  whole  system  is  so  plain, 
so  simple,  so  natural,  so  consonant  to  the  obvious  import 
of  Scripture,  so  congenial  to  the  first  principles  in  the  phi- 
losophy of  mind,  that  men  almost  entirely  unlettered, 
endowed  with  no  extraordinary  gifts  of  argument  or  elo- 
quence, have  found  no  difficulty  in  spreading  it  through 
the  country,  as  fast  as  they  could  travel  by  the  most  rapid 
conveyances  known  in  their  day.  It  is  now  outstripping 
the  speed  of  civilization  itself  in  many  lands. 

3.  The  theology  of  the  Wesleyan  Reformation  is  a  re- 
covery of  the  original  catholicity  of  the  ideal. 

A  universal  religion  would  be  a  great  blessing  to  the 
race.  If  nothing  were  gained  by  it  but  relief  from  sec- 
tarian feuds,  the  world  would  have  great  reason  to  rejoice. 
Paganism  itself,  once  the  common  religion  of  mankind,  had 
the  merit  of  being  the  great  pacificator  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  It  presented  points  of  agreement  involving 
the  dearest  interests  of  man.  Christianity,  besides  the 
new  and  wonderful  light  it  was  to  throw  on  the  present 
and  future  destinies  of  the  soul,  was  intended  also  to  con- 
tinue, or  rather  to  increase  and  multiply,  the  links  of  con- 
nection between  man  and  man.  This  it  would  have  done, 
had  not  Popery,  by  the  agency  of  ambitious  and  wicked 
men,  changed — radically  changed — the  original  platform 
of  the  church. 

As  the  detestable  result  of  their  efforts,  opinions  have 
been  almost  everywhere  substituted  for  faith.  The  head 
has  displaced  the  heart.  In  nearly  all  parts  of  the  world, 
the  question  is  uniformly  asked,  not  what  a  person  intends 
or  promises  to  do,  but  what  he  will  agree  to  believe.  The 
deed  is  of  less  importance  than  the  creed.  If  one  fails  to 
think,  on  some  five,  fifteen,  or  forty  points,  precisely  in 
unison  with  his  priest,  he  can  have  no  share  in  the  uni- 


406  THE  WESLEYAN  KEEORMATION.  [SER. 

versal  atonement  of  Christ.  Such  a  man  is  excluded  from 
the  fellowship  of  the  saints  ;  and  it  has  been  made  fashion- 
able to  load  him  with  anathemas  invented  for  his  use,  or 
send  him  as  an  incorrigible  skeptic  to  the  lowest  regions  of 
despair. 

A  man's  belief  is  certainly  at  the  bottom  of  his  faith  ; 
the  one  is  an  exclusive  exercise  of  the  understanding,  the 
other  also  of  the  heart  and  will.  But,  if  the  fundamental 
principles  or  facts  of  Christianity  are  believed,  and  the  af- 
fections made  right,  a  very  great  latitude  of  opinion  may 
be  indulged,  without  the  slightest  danger  to  piety,  or  detri- 
ment to  grace.  Indeed,  variety  in  opinion  is  precisely 
what  we  are  prepared  both  to  covet  and  expect.  Look 
abroad  into  the  natural  world.  What  two  substances  are 
in  all  respects  alike  ?  What  tAvo  mountains,  trees,  rivers, 
cascades,  are  exactly  the  same  ?  What  landscape  will  com- 
pare perfectly  with  any  other  you  have  seen  ?  Nay,  in 
smaller  matters,  what  two  spires  of  grass  are  of  the  same 
color,  shape,  and  length  ?  What  child  has  not  amused  a 
leisure  hour  in  the  fruitless  effort  to  match  tAvo  rose-buds, 
or  some  tiny  floweret  of  the  vale  ?  Not  a  pebble  upon  the 
seashore  has  ever  found  its  mate.  Not  a  leaf  of  the  majes- 
tic forest  has  fallen  upon  the  duplicate  of  itself.  Not  a  star 
in  the  depths  of  heaven  that  does  not  differ  from  all  other 
stars  in  glory.  Of  the  untold  millions  of  the  sons  of  Adam, 
no  two  countenances  have  given  to  the  beholder  the  same 
impression.  Go  where  you  will,  examine  what  you  will, 
and  God's  boundless  wisdom  and  omnipotence  are  seen  in 
the  endless  and  pleasing  variety  of  his  works.  Even  the 
twin-fruits  of  the  field  or  forest,  whether  animal  or  vegeta- 
ble, preserve  nicely  the  general  plan  ;  for,  in  these  gemini 
of  nature,  we  discover  how  nearly  two  creatures  may  ap- 
proach each  other  in  form,  without  losing  the  individuality 
of  their  being. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  look  for  and  desire  in  the  human 
race  ?  Is  here  all  variety  to  be  given  up  ?  Must  we  all 
think  and  act,  any  more  than  look,  just  alike  ?  Are  all 
human  spirits  to  be  cramped  into  the  dimensions  of  a  single 
creed  ?  And  is  that  creed  to  descend  so  far  into  the  mi- 
nuter matters  of  human  thought,  as  to  embrace  in  its  iron 
grasp  every  free  element  of  the  soul,  and  thus  enslave  the 
human  mind?     Let  evervthine;  in  heaven   and  on  earth 


XXVII.]  THE  WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  407 

forbid  it !  This  has  been  too  long  the  doctrine  of  the 
world.  It  was  this  that  established  the  laws  of  heresy  in 
the  old  Roman  Church.  It  was  this  that  constructed  the 
racks  and  gibbets  of  the  middle  ages.  It  was  this  that 
reared  the  horrible  inquisition,  and  buried  alive  its  thou- 
sands in  the  darkness  of  that  martyrs'  sepulchre — free- 
dom's tomb.  It  was  this  that  unsheathed  the  sword  of  St. 
Bartholomew's,  and  deluged  the  fields  of  France  with 
Christian  blood.  This  lighted  the  fires  of  Constance  and 
Smithfield,  and  consumed  to  ashes  the  bodies  of  the  true 
saints  in  the  flames  of  the  auto-da-fe.  This  has  followed 
the  footsteps  of  every  sincere  reformer;  shut  against 
him  the  temples  of  the  living  God;  roused  the  blood- 
hounds of  human  wrath,  and  set  them  on  his  track ; 
and  hunted  him  through  the  world  as  the  most  ravenous 
of  beasts.  Protestantism  itself  is  now  whole  centuries 
further  back  than  it  would  have  been,  had  this  wicked, 
narrow,  and  most  hateful  of  all  heresies,  never  seen  the 
light. 

Are  there,  then,  no  blessings  for  the  men  who  have 
toiled  so  hard  and  so  long  to  recover  the  true  catholicity 
of  our  common  faith  ?  Is  it  no  triumph,  worthy  the  appro- 
bation of  noble  minds,  to  have  established  a  large  and 
growing  church  on  the  single  yet  ample  practical  pledge — 
to  avoid  all  evil,  and  to  do  all  the  good  we  can  ?  Can  the 
liberal  spirits  of  this  age,  men  of  sound  learning  and  large 
views,  perfectly  assure  themselves  of  having  meted  even- 
handed  justice  to  those,  however  humble  and  unworthy  in 
the  estimation  of  a  proud  and  thankless  world,  who  have 
so  much  as  undertaken  a  work  so  new,  so  noble,  so  philan- 
thropic ?  Are  there  no  great  souls,  no  Fredericks,  no  Lo- 
renzos,  sufficiently  free  from  party  spirit  to  rise  up  and 
espouse  the  cause  of  liberal  and  independent  thought  ?  If 
not,  we  have  our  recourse.  The  mass<!s  will  soon  do  it. 
They  have  already  done  it.  From  their  number  we  will 
raise  up  men  as  mighty  as  those  to  whom  our  appeal  is 
made ;  and,  from  their  success,  derived  from  the  exercise 
of  untrammeled  minds,  we  will  prove  to  the  world  the  pos- 
sibility of  retaining  the  largest  freedom  of  our  faculties, 
while  we  secure  the  dearest  blessings  and  benefits  of  the 
cross:  If  the  Son,  therefore,  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall 
be  free  indeed  ! 


408  THE   WESLEYAN  REFORMATION.  [SER. 

4.  The  ideal  of  Christianity,  thus  recovered  and  imbodied, 
has  imparted  a  peculiar  inspiration  and  poiver  to  those  who 
have  received  it. 

By  one  of  the  acutest  minds  of  modern  days,  the  Wes- 
leyan  Reformation  has  been  styled,  "  Christianity  in  ear- 
nest." This  will  not  be  considered  unmerited  praise  by 
those  who  have  charged  us  with  an  excess,  rather  than  a 
lack,  of  inspiration.  The  charge,  also,  has  been  so  repeat- 
edly and  habitually  made,  that  it  would  be  now  impossible 
to  withdraw  it.  By  the  common  consent  of  all  parties,  we 
have  carried  our  zeal  to  the  highest  pitch ;  some  may  say, 
to  the  borders  of  fanaticism  itself.  We  liave  not,  then, 
been  a  cold  and  heartless  people.  We  have  had  men  who 
could  leave  their  homes  in  a  foreign  land,  and  delve  into 
the  wilderness  of  the  new  world,  to  bring  us  the  gospel 
of  the  Son  of  God.  A  long  time  before  there  were  roads, 
or  bridges,  or  civilization,  in  the  vast  forests  beyond  the 
frontier  line,  they  traversed  these  savage  regions,  swam 
our  swiftest  and  widest  rivers,  housed  alternately  with 
the  white  man  and  the  red  hunter — lived,  labored,  died — 
to  deliver  messages  of  mercy  to  those  whom  they  knew  to 
be  universally  unable,  and  mostly  unwilling,  to  repay  them. 
In  peace,  fined  as  vagrants  and  disturbers  of  public  order ; 
in  war,  imprisoned  as  traitors  to  their  country  ;  they  strug- 
gled through  reproach  and  poverty,  with  no  earthly  pros- 
pect but  an  early  and  unhonored  grave  in  the  midst  of  their 
persecutors. 

The  discouragements  they  met  with  were  appalling. 
From  the  Island  of  Manhattan  to  the  southern  line  of 
Georgia,  the  whole  territory  was  preoccupied  by  the 
learned  and  powerful  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England. 
The  valley  of  the  west  was  a  howling  wilderness,  dotted 
here  and  there  by  French  settlements.  New-England  was 
literally  owned  and  possessed  by  a  church  founded  as  the 
established  order.  Wherever  the  missionaries  went,  they 
met  a  settled  and  determined  opposition.  The  men  em- 
ployed in  this  work  were  alone,  poor,  illiterate,  and  un- 
friended. But  were  they  ordinary  men  ?  Were  they  ever 
known  to  despond  ?  Did  they  ever  seem  dejected  ?  No — 
never.  They  trusted  and  gloried  in  their  mission.  If 
opposed  and  persecuted,  they  shouted  and  praised  God  the 
louder.    With  a  firm  faith  in  the  final  result  of  their  ardu- 


XXVII.]  THE   WESLEYAN  KEFORMATION.  -       40& 

ous  labors,  they  advanced  over  every  obstacle,  everywhere 
scattering  the  seeds  of  a  moral  revolution. 

Howard  has  been  celebrated  for  visiting  the  prisons  of 
civilized  Europe.  His  zeal  in  a  good  cause  is  universally 
acknowledged.  But  our  men  have  made  themselves  the 
prisoners  by  their  work.  The  patriots  of  ancient  Greece 
have  been  embalmed  in  honors,  for  daring  to  defend  their 
homes  against  the  invasion  of  their  enemies.  Rome  has 
received  an  immortality  of  renown,  for  the  spirit  and  reso- 
lution manifested  in  the  conquest  of  the  world.  But  it 
would  be  safe  to  set  Francis  Asbury  against  the  philan- 
thropists of  every  age.  His  indomitable  perseverance  was 
never  excelled  by  any  man.  The  delivery  of  some  twenty 
thousand  sermons,  his  presiding  in  more  than  two  hundred 
annual  conferences,  and  traveling  nearly  three  hundred 
thousand  miles  within  thirty  years,  should  be  enough  to 
prove  this  assertion.  His  benevolence  was  never  sur- 
passed. Without  money,  far  from  friends  who  might 
assist  him,  he  was  known  to  sell  the  very  garments  he 
wore  to  aid  his  faithful  and  laborious  preachers.  But  he 
was  not  alone.  He  was  surrounded  by  a  band  of  more 
than  Spartans.  Nay,  from  Themistocles  to  Epaminondas 
— from  Leonidas  to  Lysander — from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  Roman  and  Grecian  greatness,  there  never  was  a 
man  of  nobler,  loftier,  purer  qualities,  than  the  rank  and 
file  of  those  daring  heroes,  who  now  sleep  without  a  record 
or  a  stone  to  tell  where  they  slumber.  They  had  a  courage 
which  Thermopyla3  itself  can  but  barely  rival.  They  had 
a  fortitude  which  the  troops  of  the  ambitious  Caesar  never 
equaled.  They  had  an  energy,  a  perseverance,  which,  had 
they  not  been  strangers  to  the  heart  of  Hannibal,  would 
have  reduced  Rome  itself  to  the  condition  of  an  African 
province.  Weakened  by  poverty,  trammeled  by  illiteracy, 
stung  by  reproach,  they  traveled,  they  preached,  they  con- 
quered. Wliether  living  or  dying,  it  seemed  to  be  their 
resolution  to  stamp  the  impress  of  the  recovered  ideal  on 
the  resisting  marble,  however  adamantine,  of  the  human 
mind.  Though  the  work  was  mighty,  their  success  is 
more  and  more  certain ;  and  most  heartily  do  we  think, 
could  the  voice  of  posterity  now  reach  us,  we  might  hear 
them  shouting — 

"And  us  shall  the  victory  exalt  to  heaven  !" 
18 


410  THE   DOUBLE   BAPTISM.  [SER. 

We  have  now  concluded  our  remarks.  A  few  of  the 
more  prominent  reasons  have  been  given  why  the  Wes- 
leyan  Reformation  has  thus  far  so  gloriously  succeeded. 
We  have  stated  the  truth  as  we  understand  it.  Let  others 
judge  what  allowances  should  be  made  for  our  partialities. 
We  ask  not  for  the  generosity  shown  to  the  good  patriarch 
on  the  occasion  before  mentioned.  Let  facts  and  philoso- 
phy stand  on  their  own  merits.  If  the  preceding  state- 
ments are  not  consistent  with  history  and  sound  logic,  the 
kiss  of  Esau  could  not  save  them.  If  they  are  so,  let  those 
interested  profit  by  them.  The  banner  under  which  we 
have  so  far  prospered  is  the  best  ensign  and  pledge  of 
future  conquests.  Let  us  never  furl  it,  but  only  add  new 
stars  to  adorn  it.  We  began  in  weakness  ;  we  have  been 
raised  to  power.  A  little  more  than  a  century  ago,  Wes- 
ley, poor  and  friendless,  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  quest  of 
labor.  Let  the  heavens  now  open — let  the  sainted  patri- 
arch now  look  forth  on  his  descendants.  The  very  angels 
would  rebuke  the  man  who  would  silence  his  well-earned 
exultation — ^'With  my  staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan,  and 
now  I  am  hecome  two  bands  /" 


SERMON  XXVm. 

The  Double  Baptism — Real  Baptism, 

BY  REV.  DANIEL  D.  WHEDON,  D.  D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  LOGIC  IN  THE  MICHIGAN  UNIVERSITY. 

"  I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water,  but  he  shall  baptize  you  with 
the  Holy  Ghost." — Mark  i,  8. 

Our  text  proves,  if  the  thing  needs  any  proof,  that  bap- 
tism is  of  two  kinds,  the  real  and  the  symbolical.  In  the 
former,  the  administrator  is  God ;  the  element  is  his  Holy 
Spirit ;  and  the  subject  is  the  human  being.  In  the  latter, 
the  administrator  is  God's  minister;  the  element  is  water; 
and  the  subject  is  the  human  person.  Our  purpose,  at  the 
present  time,  is,  to  discuss  the  mode  in  which  both  these 
baptisms  (or  this  twofold  baptism)  are  performed  ;  and  the 
question  of  mode  involves  two  points,  namely,  the  motion 


XXVIII.]  REAL   BAPTISM.  411 

and'  the  amount.  In  regard  to  the  motion,  we  have  the 
question,  Is  the  subject  plunged  into  the  element,  or  does  the 
element  descend  upon  the  subject  ?  In  regard  to  the  amount, 
the  question  is,  Must  the  element  be  so  abundant  as  that  it 
shall  come  in  contact  with  the  entire  surface  of  the  person  ? 
We  shall  endeavor,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the  fear  of  God, 
in  submission  to  his  word,  and  in  the  spirit  of  Christian 
candor  toward  our  brethren,  of  our  own  or  any  other  de- 
nomination, who  differ  from  us,  to  ascertain  the  truth  upon 
these  points,  both  in  regard  to  baptism  real,  and  baptism 
symbolical. 

I.  Real  Baptism. 

We  fearlessly  assume  that  when  the  Holy  Spirit  performs 
baptism,  not  only  is  the  thing  real,  but  the  term  is  literal. 
Immersionists  have  as  boldly  assumed,  and  affusionists 
have  as  tamely  granted,  that  because  the  term  here  was 
spiritual,  it  was  therefore  figurative.  Few  epithets  are 
more  frequently  confounded  in  theology  than  these  last 
two ;  yet  few  are  more  distinct,  or  more  necessary  to  be 
distinguished.  The  term,  spiritual,  is  opposed  to  corpo- 
real;  figurative  to  literal.  A  spiritual  term  is  the  literal 
designation  of  a  spiritual  or  incorporeal  object  or  opera- 
tion. It  is  true,  that  a  large  amount  of  those  terms  are 
borrowed  from  the  material  world,  and  hence  have  a  sort 
of  figurative  origin ;  but,  the  moment  they  become  an  or- 
dinary technic,  they  are  literal.  Yet  it  is  by  no  means 
certain,  that  the  spiritual  term,  baptism,  is  borrowed  from 
its  first  application  to  its  water  symbol.  Xew,  I  pour, 
and  (SaTTTito),  I  baptize,  are  the  literal  names  of  real, 
though  spiritual,  operations,  not  borrowed,  probably,  from 
any  religious  rite,  but  transferred  from  their  general  use 
to  express  an  invisible,  though  real,  performance.  The 
application  of  jSaTTTL^o),  both  to  the  real  and  visible  bap- 
tism in  Christianity,  so  far  as  we  know,  commenced  simul- 
taneously ;  both  taking  their  origin,  under  divine  guidance, 
from  John  the  Baptist.  If  either,  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  literal,  and  that  of  water,  both  in  name  and  thing, 
symbolical. 

It  is  maintained,  that  the  word  (SanTL^o),  of  itself,  has 
so  positive  and  invariable  a  meaning  in  all  Greek  litera- 
ture, that  it  settles  the  point,  of  itself,  in  every  case.     No 


412  THE  DOUBLE   BAPTISM.  [SER. 

difficulties,  no  improbabilities,  it  seems,  can  obviate  its 
single  force ;  and  we  are  required  to  surrender,  unless  we 
can  produce  a  case  of  an  impossibility  of  its  meaning  to 
plunge.  Such  controversialists  are  hard  taskmasters ;  but 
without  granting  such  a  force  in  the  word,  we  accept  the 
challenge ;  we  will  demonstrate  the  impossibility.  We 
take  the  case  of  real  baptism ;  and,  before  we  have  done,  we 
expect  to  show  that  it  cannot  be  immersion.  In  motion 
it  is  the  descent  of  the  element ;  in  amount,  it  is  partial. 

I.  The  question  op  motion. 

The  evidence  is  conclusive  from  Scripture,  that  the  re- 
novating and  sanctifying  dispensation  of  God's  Spirit,  which 
ever  is  called  baptism,  is  always  expressed  under  the  con- 
ception of  its  descent  upon  the  subject.  If  other  cases 
exist  of  spiritual  operation,  and  for  other  purposes,  those 
are  never  called  baptism. 

1.  In  the  promises  of  the  Old  Testament,  both  the  sancti- 
fying descent,  and  its  representation  by  the  symbol  of 
water  affusion,  are  abundantly  asserted:  "I  will  pour  water 
upon  him  that  is  thirsty,  and  floods  upon  the  diy  ground  ;  I 
will  POUR  my  Spirit  upon  thy  seed,  and  my  blessing  upon 
thine  offspring."  Isa.  xliv,  3.  "  Then  will  I  sprinkle  clean 
water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  clean  ;  from  all  your 
filthiness  and  all  your  idols  will  I  cleanse  you.  .  .  .  And  I 
will  put  my  Spirit  within  you."  Ezek.  xxxvi,  25,  &c.  "  He 
saved  us,  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  the  renewing 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  he  shed  on  us  abundantly."  Titus 
iii,  5, 6.  Passages  like  these  teach  us,  that,  in  both  dispensa- 
tions, the  sanctifying  communication  of  God's  Spirit  existed, 
idiomatically  expressed  by  descent,  as  indicating  its  origin 
from  "  God  most  high,"  and  most  appropriately  repre- 
sented to  the  eye  under  the  symbol  of  water. 

2.  This  symbolism  between  the  Spirit  and  the  water  is 
more  definitely  developed  in  the  new  covenant,  under  the 
form  and  title  of  the  double  baptism.  Our  text  is  but 
one  of  several  reiterations  by  John  of  the  same  great  an- 
nouncement given  by  the  different  evangeUsts,  not  as 
different  narrations  of  the  same  utterance,  but  as  different 
utterances  of  the  same  great  truth  :  "  I,  indeed,  baptize 
you  with  water,  but  he  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  ...  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  with  fire."  Matt,  iii,  11  ;  Luke  iii,  16.     The  same  de- 


XXVIII.]  REAL  BAPTISM.  43L8 

claration  is  ascribed  to  our  Lord  himself.  There  seem 
abundant  proofs  that  baptism  by  water  is  the  visible  type 
of  baptism  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  former  baptism  is 
the  best  possible  sensible  realization  of  the  true  conceptiou 
of  the  latter. 

3.  In  every  case  which  we  have  been  able  to  find,  either 
from  our  own  researches  or  the  quotations  of  immer- 
sionists,  of  baptism  with  the  spiritual  element,  it  is  repre- 
sented not  as  the  descent  of  the  subject  into  the  element, 
but  a  descent  of  the  element  upon  the  subject.  Thus, 
when  Peter  was  addressing  the  company  of  Cornelius, 
"the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  all  them  which  heard;"  and 
even  "on  the  Gentiles  also  was  poured  out  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Then  answered  Peter,  Can  any  man 
forbid  water,  that  these  should  not  be  baptized,  which  have 
received  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  well  as  we  ?"  Acts  x,  44-47. 
The  holy,  spiritual  baptism,  is  here,  indeed,  said  to  be  re- 
ceived ;  but  it  has  just  been  called  "  a  gift  poured."  To 
be  the  recipient  was,  therefore,  to  be  the  subject  of  affusion. 
To  "receive"  "the  poured-out  gift,"  and  to  be  baptized 
with  water,  are  made  necessary  parallels.  If  they  had 
"received"  one,  nobody  could  "forbid"  the  other.  This 
implication,  Peter,  in  his  subsequent  recital,  explicitly  af- 
firms :  "  The  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  them  as  on  us  at  the 
beginning.  Then  remembered  I  the  word  [not  of  John, 
but]  of  the  Lord,  John,  indeed,  baptized  with  water ;  but 
ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  Acts  xi,  16, 
Thus  Peter  expressly  pronounces  the  outpouring  and  the 
falling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  be  baptism. 

The  most  signal  fulfillment  of  our  text  was  at  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  when  they  were  baptized  "  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  fire."  The  question,  whether  the  amount 
of  these  elements  was  sufficient  to  be  an  immersion,  we 
postpone.  But  that  they  were  affused,  Peter  expressly 
declares :  "  This  is  that  spoken  by  the  prophet  Joel,  I  will 
POUR  out  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh."  Acts  ii,  17.  The 
outpourings  01  the  Spirit,  then  named  even  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, were  baptisms.  And  he  adds,  "  Be  baptized  every 
one  of  you,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
Did  mortal  man  ever  talk  of  receiving  an  element  in  which 
he  was  submerged  ?  Besides,  as  we  have  already  noticed, 
"  the  gift  of  the  Uoly  Ghost  was  poured  out." 


414  THE   DOUBLE    BAPTISM.  [SEK. 

Twice  has  God  made  spiritual  baptism  really  or  em- 
blematically visible  ;  and  both  times  it  was  by  descent. 
The  baptism  of  fire  (being  to  the  Spirit  what  lightning  is 
to  electricity,  its  visible  manifestation)  was  certainly  by 
descent :  "  There  appeared  unto  them  cloven  tongues,  like 
as  of  fire ;  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them."  The  tongues  were 
above  them ;  for  a  sitting  object  is  necessarily  above  the 
object  sat  upon.  Otherwise  it  would  be  said,  that  the 
tongues  hung  to,  not  sat  upon,  them.  Immersion,  or  not, 
this  was  a  descent.  Visible  spiritual  baptism  again  took 
place  at  the  river  to  Jesus,  when  "the  heavens  were 
opened  unto  him,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  descending 
like  a  dove,  and  lighting  upon  him."  Here,  then,  the 
Spirit  itself,  not  its  emblem,  was  seen,  visibly  moving  in 
space,  baptismally  descending  upon  the  Saviour.  When 
God  shows  us  how  he  baptizes,  the  element  descends  upon 
the  subject. 

These  are  our  passages  in  proof  of  our  proposition.  The 
cleansing  or  sanctifying  operations  of  God  upon  man  are 
alone  called  baptism ;  and  when  represented  as  baptism, 
are  presented  under  the  conception  of  descent.  We  now 
refute  the  objections  to  this  argument. 

1.  Irrelevant  it  is,  to  quote  against  us  texts  expressing 
other  operations  of  the  Spirit  than  his  cleansing  process, 
and  which  are,  therefore,  presented  under  other  concep- 
tions and  images  than  affusion,  or  of  water,  in  any  mode. 
With  these,  baptism  has  nothing  to  do.  Such  images  as 
these,  "  to  drink  into  one  Spirit,"  (1  Cor.  xii,  13,)  breath- 
ing, (John  XX,  22,)  blowing,  (Acts  ii,  2,  4,)  anointing, 
(2  Cor.  ii,  21,)  voice,  (1  Kings  xix,  1,)  express  no  opera- 
tion of  which  baptism  is  the  symbol,  and  have,  therefore, 
nothing  to  do  with  this  discussion.  Never  are  these  modes 
or  operations  called  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 
affusion  alone  is.  Yet  all  these  (except  "  blowing,"  which 
we  shall  subsequently  dispose  of)  express  a  partial  re- 
cipiency upon  the  person,  and  would  all  be  properly  em- 
blemed by  the  partial  affusion  of  a  common  symbolical 
element  upon  the  subject. 

2.  "  This  opinion,"  we  are  told,  "  teaches  that  God  is 
material ;"  whereas,  "  we  cannot  have  him  poured  on  us. 
Baptism,  whatever  be  the  mode,  cannot  represent  either 
the  manner  of  conveying  the  Spirit,  or  his  operations  on 


XXVm.]  REAL   BAPTISM.  415 

the  soul.     This  error  is  as  dishonorable  to  God,  as  that  of 
the  Anthropomorphites."* 

Surely,  remarks  like  these  are  innocent,  only  when  they 
are  ignorant.  (1.)  How  does  this  presumptuous  objector 
know  that  God  can  make  no  movement  in  space,  no  ap- 
proximation to,  and  no  descent  upon,  the  human  soul? 
God  can  move  in  space,  if  God  can  occupy  space  ;  if  he 
does  not  occupy  space,  he  is  nowhere ;  and  if  nowhere,  he 
is  nothing — and  thus  the  objector  is  a  virtual  atheist.  (2.) 
How  dares  the  objector  contradict  the  scripture,  which 
saith,  Jesus  "  saw  the  Spirit  descending  r  not  the  emblem, 
but  '■'•the  Spirit"  (3.)  The  resemblance  on  which  the 
figure  is  founded,  we  are  told,  lies  not  between  pouring 
water  and  "  the  operations  of  the  Spirit  on  the  soul,"  but 
between  immersion  in  water  and  "  the  effects  of  the  influ- 
ences of  the  Spirit."  But  the  soul  is  spirit  as  well  as 
God;  and  effects,  operated  by  the  Spirit  of  God  on  the 
human  spirit,  are  performed  operations  by  the  one,  and 
experienced  operations  in  the  other ;  and  those  expe- 
riences are  themselves  spiritual  operations;  and  if  spi- 
rit's operations  cannot  be  represented  by  pouring  water, 
how  can  they  be  represented  by  plunging  into  water  ?  If 
we  materialize  God,  the  objector  materializes  God  and  the 
soul.  (4.)  But  our  view  does  not  in  any  respect  mate- 
rialize God  at  all,  any  more  than  the  objector's  own.  It 
is  not,  unless  we  choose,  "  founded  on  the  error  that  there 
is  a  literal  pouring  of  his  Spirit."  It  only  affirms  that  the 
best  possible  conception  of  the  ineffable  operation  of  his 
cleansing  Spirit,  either  in  thought  or  in  language ;  and, 
therefore,  in  visible  symbol,  is  that  of  pouring.  Just  as 
the  best  conception  of  the  inconceivable  repose  of  God  at 
the  close  of  creation,  both  in  thought  and  language,  is 
REST,  (the  Hebrew  word,  sahhath,  signifies  rest,)  and  is, 
therefore,  best  symbolized  by  the  weekly  repose  of  our 
voluntary  muscles ;  just  so  the  inconceivable  sanctifying 
baptism  of  God's  Spirit  is  best  symbolized  by  the  affusion 
of  physical  water.  In  both  cases  it  is  undeniable,  that  a 
mode  of  God's  Spirit  is  represented  by  a  visible  operation  ; 
and  both,  or  neither,  materialize  God.    The  objection  of  the 

*  This,  and  most  of  the  arguments  of  immersionists  alluded  to  in 
this  sermon,  are  found  in  the  wi-itings  of  Alexander  Carson, 


416  THE  DOUBLE  BAPTISM.  [SEK. 

Deist  to  the  former  is  the  very  objection  of  the  im- 
mersionist  to  the  latter.  It  is  the  very  purpose  and  beauty 
of  a  symbol  to  make  visible  the  best  conception  of  the  in- 
visible. (5.)  Of  a  spiritual  operation,  the  ceremonial 
representation  would  be  a  visible  symbol;  the  name  would 
be  a  verbal  symbol ;  and  the  conception  a  mental  symbol, 
God's  operations  are  as  really  symbolized  by  each  of  the 
three,  as  by  either  of  the  three.  Scripture,  therefore,  as 
much  materializes  God,  by  calling  his  operations  pouring, 
as  by  commanding  us  to  signify  those  operations  by  water 
affusion  or  immersion.  In  predicating  of  the  Spirit  even 
the  term,  operation,  (which  is  a  physical  term,)  the  ob- 
jector as  much  materializes  God,  as  if  he  had  represented 
those  operations  by  immersion.  In  regard  to  his  own 
being,  God  has  forbidden  it  to  be  represented  in  shape, 
lest  our  worship  should  forget  him,  and  settle  upon  the 
idol ;  but  he  has  also,  in  some  cases,  directed  us  visibly  to 
represent  his  operations,  or  else  we  have  no  sabbath.  From 
these  considerations  we  sustain  the  Scriptures,  in  declaring 
that  water  baptism  is  the  figure  of  the  literal  descent  of 
God's  sanctifying  Spirit  upon  us. 

3.  But  it  is  again  objected,  that  "  the  pouring  is  no  part 
of  the  baptism."  "The  baptism  takes  place  after  the 
pouring  is  over,"  and  consists  in  the  immersion  which 
results. 

(1.)  Very  good.  This  surrenders  the  whole  question, 
so  far  as  the  motion  performed  is  concerned.  It  is  not 
then  necessary  that  the  subject  should  descend  into  the 
element — the  element  may  descend  upon  the  subject;  the 
word  does  not  always  then  signify  to  dip  or  plunge ;  and 
immersion,  after  all,  by  concession,  is  performed  by  affu- 
sion !  Let  this  be  well  remembered  when  we  come  to 
discuss  the  amount. 

(2.)  Apart  from  the  question  of  amount,  the  case  we 
have  made  out  from  Scripture  is  this :  the  term  baptism  is 
connected  with  no  other  mode  of  the  Spirit's  operation  but 
pouring ;  any  other  mode,  or  any  other  no-mode,  is  there- 
fore unauthorized.  Who,  therefore,  dare  cut  off  this  mode, 
even  in  idea,  from  the  whole  conception  of  Spirit  baptism  ? 
Granting  that  the  innate  meaning  of  baptism  does  not  of 
itself  express  the  whole  process :  countless  words  in  all 
languages  express  but  a  part  of  the  object  for  which  they 


XXVIII.]  REAL  BAPTISM.  417 

stand,  and  take  in  the  whole  only  by  implication.  Grant- 
ing that  the  bare  word  f^anrt^o)  does  not,  lexically,  express 
more  than  the  amount,  who  dares  affirm  that  it  does  not 
include,  by  implication,  that  mode  with  which  Scripture 
inseparably  associates  it  ? 

(3.)  Water  baptism,  in  order  to  be  a  visible  symbol  of 
the  Scripture  picture  of  spiritual  baptism,  must  represent 
three  ideas: — 1.  Origination  of  the  Spirit's  influence  in 
and  from  God — "  I  will  pour  out,"  &c. ;  2.  That  man  is 
the  subject ;  and,  3.  The  transmission  from  God  to  man. 
And  as  nearly  all  Scripture,  and  all  language,  and  all 
mental  conception,  represent  God  above  and  man  below, 
so  this  transmission  is  by  descent.  Pouring  alone  (or 
sprinkling,  which  is  merely  moderate  pouring)  expresses 
these  three,  and  is  therefore  the  only  adequate  symbol. 
Immersion  gives  not  God  the  glory ;  nothing  comes  from 
above.  All  comes  to  the  candidate  horizontally,  and 
nothing  vertically ;  all  from  man,  and  nothing  from  heaven. 
It  is  all  self-conversionism.  It  may  express  one's  own 
moral  reformation,  but  not  God's  regeneration.  It  looks 
the  very  child  of  Pharisaism.  By  its  own  claim,  it  repre- 
sents only  "  effects,''  and  atheistically  acknowledges  no 
cause. 

We  have  done  with  this  part  of  our  subject.  By  the 
uniform  language  of  Scripture,  by  the  symbols  and  in- 
stances divinely  presented,  by  the  concession  of  immer- 
sionists,  and  by  the  reason  of  the  case,  we  have  shown  that 
the  real,  the  divine,  the  model  baptism,  is  by  pouring. 
From  the  question  of  motion  we  proceed  to 

II.  The  question  of  amount.  Is  the  entire  per- 
son ENVELOPED  BY  THE  ELEMENT  ? 

In  every  instance,  without  exception,  the  reverse  is  the 
fact.  This  will  appear,  both  from  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  by  the  divine  visible  presentations  of  the  process. 

1.  The  Scripture  language.  Instead  of  representing  the 
person  inclosed  within  the  element.  Scripture  declares  the 
element  to  be  inclosed  within  the  subject.  Nor  is  the  sub- 
ject represented  as  soaked  or  saturated  like  a  spunge,  but 
as  receiving  and  containing  like  a  vessel.  "  We  have  this 
treasure  in  earthen  vessels  ;"  "vessels  of  mercy,"  "  vessels 
of  wrath."  So  Ezekiel :  "  I  will  sprinkle  clean  water  upon 
you  . . .  and  put  my  Spirit  within  you."  No  one  would  talk 
18* 


418  THE  DOUBLE  BAPTISM.  [SER. 

of  putting  clean  water  within  a  spunge;  and  the  term 
sprinkle  expresses  an  amount  decisive  against  immersion. 
"  Be  not  drunk  with  wine,  wherein  is  excess,  but  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit."  Eph.  v,  18.  As  the  drinker  contains  the 
wine,  instead  of  being  plunged  into  it,  or  absorbing  it  as  a 
spunge,  so  the  Christian  contains  the  Spirit,  instead  of 
being  immersed  into  it.  So  the  disciples  "  received  "  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  and  Peter  promised — "  Be  baptized,  and  ye 
shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  Did  any  man 
ever  "  receive  "  the  river  or  font  by  being  plunged  into  it  ? 
Not  only  was  the  "  Spirit  put  within  "  them  and  they  "  re- 
ceived "  it,  but  they  were  "  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost." 
A  vessel,  however  perfectly  filled,  is  not  thereby  immersed. 
This  is  the  uniform  and  only  phraseology  of  Scripture  upon 
this  point;  and  when  we  add  that  the  process,  by  these 
phrases,  is  preceded  and  produced  by  pouring,  it  seems  a 
moral  impossihility  to  reconcile  that  process  with  the  idea 
of  immersion.  If  so,  (3a7TTL^o)  does  not  always  signify  im- 
merse, in  the  New  Testament. 

2.  The  baptismal  dove.  The  Holy  Spirit,  at  the  baptism 
of  Jesus,  "  descended  in  bodily  shape  like  a  dove  upon 
him."  Was  this  immersion  in  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  "Was  he 
plunged  into  the  dove  ?  Had  the  Spirit  made  itself  visible 
as  a  luminous  vapor,  and  wrapped  him  round,  even  with- 
out a  downward  plunge  into  it,  we  would  admit  immersion  ; 
but  since  the  amount  of  the  Spirit  is  limited  by  the  outline 
of  the  "  bodily  shape  "  of  a  dove,  the  idea  of  immersion  is 
absolutely  impossible — and  this  is  impossibility  number 
second. 

3.  The  baptism,  offre.  There  was  no  immersion,  either 
of  the  Spirit,  or  of  the  emblems  of  the  Spirit,  or  of  fire,  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost.  It  is  said,  "  There  came  a  sound 
from  heaven,  as  of  a  rushing  mighty  wind ;  and  it  filled 
all  the  house  where  they  were  sitting."  From  this,  there 
is  much  loose  talk  of  an  immersion  in  a  "  wind,"  and  in  "  a 
sound,"  as  "  the  emblems  of  the  Spirit."  But,  first,  these 
were  not  "  the  emblems  of  the  Spirit."  They  were  merely 
the  indications  of  the  Spirit's  presence,  just  as  the  con- 
cussion of  the  air  is  the  indication  of  the  lightning's 
presence,  being  as-  effect  to  cause.  Even  if  "  a  wind"  did 
sweep  them,  and  "  a  sound''  fill  every  ear  in  the  room,  it 
is  egregious  burlesque  to  call  this,  forsooth,  the  baptism  of 


XXVIII.J  REAL  BAPTISM.  419 

the  Spirit.  Second,  it  is  not  said  there  was  a  "  wind ;" 
there  was  a  sound  resembling  the  sound  of  wind ;  but  who 
knows  there  was  any  wind  ?  No  living  mortal.  But  they 
were  immersed  in  "  a  sound !"  We  will  treat  this  non- 
sense with  all  patience.  Sound,  then,  is  the  sensible  effect 
of  the  vibration  of  air  upon  the  tympanum  of  the  ear ;  it 
can  cover  or  immerse  just  the  surface  of  that  little  tympa- 
num with  the  sensation,  and  no  more  ;  we  say  that  a  room 
is  "filled"  with  sound  when  every  ear  is  filled  with  the 
sensation  ;  but  to  talk  of  immersing  the  whole  person  with 
the  sensation  is  physical  absurdity.  It  is  just  partial 
affusion. 

But  the  baptism  of  fire.  Allow  the  immersion  of  "  wind  '* 
and  sound,  if  you  wish;  were  they  immersed  in  fire? 
Impossible.  The  element  was  no  larger  in  amount  than 
an  ordinary  tongue,  and  how  could  a  man  be  immersed 
in  a  tongue?  We  coolly  label  this,  impossibility  the 
third — the  third  demonstration  that  fiaTrrc^G),  in  the  New 
Testament,  does  not  signify  to  unmerse. 

And  here,  if  nowhere  else,  we  deem  ourselves  impreg- 
nable. It  cannot  be  said  that  the  baptism  ofjire  is  merely 
a  figure  ;  for  it  is  a  name  affixed  to  an  element  and  an 
operation  just  as  visible  as  so  much  water  or  blood.  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  this  occasion  was  that  of  the  baptism 
of  fire ;  for  Jesus  had  bidden  them  wait  at  Jerusalem  for 
this  as  the  occasion  (Acts  i,  4,  5)  of  the  fulfillment  of  the 
promise  of  the  Father,  in  which  the  baptism  of  fire  was 
included.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  fire  descended,  for 
it  first  "  appeared,"  and  then  "  it  sat  upon  them''  It  cannot 
be  immersion  ;  for  it  is  as  plain  as  a  geometrical  demon- 
stration could  make  it — if  a  man  could  not  be  inclosed  in 
an  ordinarily  sized  tongue,  this  was  not  immersion.  Nor 
is  this  an  ordinary  barren  case;  it  is  an  all-controlling 
model  instance. 

In  regard  to  this  whole  argument  of  amount,  we  are 
aware  of  but  one  poor  evasion  that  immersionists  have  fur- 
nished. A  few  passages  are  quoted,  having  nothing  to  do 
with  baptism,  spiritual  or  symbolical,  which  speak  of  us  as 
being  in  God.  Thus :  "  In  him  we  live,  and  move,  and 
have  our  being."  God  does  indeed  surround  good  men 
and  bad  ;  but  this  is  not  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  nor  is 
Christian  baptism  any  figure  of  this.     Persons  in  a  state 


420  THE  DOUBLE  BAPTISM.  [SEK. 

of  spiritual  perception,  by  which  God  reveals  visions  unto 
them,  are  sometimes  said  to  be  "  in  the  Spirit."  Thus 
John  was  "carried  away  in  the  Spirit"  into  the  wilder- 
ness, and  to  a  high  mountain.  Rev.  xvii,  3  ;  ii,  10.  He 
"  saw  a  door  opened  in  heaven,"  and  "  immediately  I  was 
in  the  Spirit,"  or  in  a  state  of  spiritual  perception.  But 
this  is  no  sanctifying  operation  of  the  Spirit,  and  no  proto- 
type of  water  baptism.  No  more  are  "walking  in  the 
Spirit,"  "  dwelling  in  God,"  baptismal  images.  They  refer, 
not  to  the  process  of  God's  dispensing  his  Spirit,  but  to 
our  walking  and  living  in  accordance  with  the  dictates  of 
that  Spirit.  And  how  do  these  expressions  obviate  the 
argument  drawn  from  the  visible  baptismal  dove  and 
tongues  of  fire  ? 

We  have  gone  through  the  great  subject  of  real  bap- 
tism ;  but  before  taking  up  the  subject  of  the  symbolical, 
we  may  show  the  all-controlling  force  of  the  argument 
drawn  from  the  former  over  the  latter  baptism. 

1.  We  settle  the  Biblical,  ritual  use  of  the  word.  If  the 
high  grounds  asserted  by  immersionists  in  regard  to  the 
sense  of  jBanri^o),  in  the  classics  and  lexicons,  were  sus- 
tainable, yet  one  instance  of  plain  impossihility  of  its 
meaning  immerse,  will  prove  it  to  belong  to  that  numerous 
class  of  words,  in  which  the  transfer  to  Christian  institu- 
tions has  changed  the  meaning  from  its  classic  use.  The 
pulpit  is  hardly  the  place  for  verbal  criticism ;  and,  hap- 
pily, upon  this  subject  God  has  not  left  the  unlearned 
brother  at  the  mercy  of  heathen  poets  and  learned  lexi- 
cons. The  Bible  is  its  own  dictionary ;  the  Spirit  is  his 
own  interpreter.  He  has  made  the  thing  visible — so  visible, 
that  he  that  hath  eyes  to  see  may  see.  Logicians  tell  us 
that  the  best,  nay,  the  only  real  definition  of  a  word,  is  to 
point  to  the  object  and  apply  the  name.  Point  to  a  lamp, 
and  say,  "  I  call  that  a  la^np  ;"  and  the  word  is  incontro- 
vertibly  defined.  Point  to  a  man  moving  along  your 
streets,  and  say,  "  I  call  that  walking"  and  the  definition 
is  complete.  Now  God  has  thus  defined  the  word  in 
question.  He  poured  out  upon  his  Son,  visibly  and  really 
— it  was  pouring,  and  it  was  not  immersion — and  he  called 
it  haptism.  He  poured  out  the  tongue  of  fire  upon  the 
disciples,  visibly  and  really — it  was  pouring,  and  it  was 
not  immersion — and  he  called  it  baptism.     Now  it  makes 


XXVill.]  REAL   BAPTISM.  421 

no  difference  in  the  mode,  what  the  element  is.  Whether 
water  or  fire,  oil  or  vapor,  matter  or  spirit,  if  in  one  case 
baptism  does  not  necessarily  mean  immersion,  it  need  not 
in  another.  But  we  do  more  than  settle  the  extension  of 
the  term ;  for, 

2.  We  fix  the  form  of  the  symbol.  A  formal  symbol 
must,  by  its  very  form,  express  its  reality.  Otherwise  it 
is  no  symbol  at  all.  The  very  purpose  of  a  visible  formal 
symbol  is,  to  represent  to  the  human  mind  an  idea  of  some 
unseen  reality.  If  it  does  not  do  this,  it  is  no  symbol,  but 
an  arbitrary  mummery.  Now  God  has  twice  made  that 
reality  visible.  But  the  picture  must  conform  to  the  ori- 
ginal, or  it  is  no  picture ;  the  copy,  to  be  a  copy,  must  cor- 
respond to  the  pattern.  "  See  that  thou  make  all  things 
according  to  the  pattern  shown  to  thee  in  the  mount." 
And  what  was  the  pattern  "  shown  thee "  at  the  Pentecost, 
and  at  the  river,  where  God  himself  baptized?  With 
God's  word  in  my  hand,  and  against  an  opposing  world,  I 
were  forced  to  reiterate,  "  It  was  pouring,  and  it  was  not 
immersion."  This  is  the  way  Christ  baptizeth ;  and  the 
Christian  may  well  answer,  when  told  that  pouring  is  not 
baptism,  "  This  is  the  way  my  God  baptized  me,  and  this 
is  the  way  my  minister  shall." 

And  this  argument  remains  the  same,  should  we  even 
concede  that  the  application  of  the  term  baptism  to  the 
spiritual  affusion  is  figurative.  The  things  must  conform, 
whatever  you  do  with  the  name.  The  symbolical  thing 
must  be  the  picture  of  the  real  thing. 

3.  We  secure  one  great  law  of  interpretation.  As  the 
spiritual  process  is  called  baptism,  and  that  baptism  is  by 
affusion,  and  in  both  name  and  form  is  the  type  of  water 
baptism,  so,  in  all  cases  of  water  baptism,  the  meaning  of  the 
term,  and  the  conception  of  the  process,  must,  in  accordance 
loith  the  type,  he  affusion.  We  have  a  perfect  right  to 
say  that,  ritually,  baptism  means,  and  would  correctly,  in 
every  case,  be  translated,  affusion.  To  ask,  in  any  passage 
of  Scripture,  whether  the  baptism  is  by  affusion  or  immer- 
sion, is  to  ask  whether  the  affusion  is  by  afibsion  or  im- 
mersion. 


422  THE  DOUBLE  BAPTISM.  [SER. 

SERMON   XXIX. 
The  Double  Baptism — Symbolical  Baptism, 

BY  REV.  DANIEL  D.   WHEDON,  D.  D., 

PROFESSOR   OF   LOGIC    IN    THE    MICHIGAN    UNIVERSITY. 

"  I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water,  but  he  shall  baptize  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost."— Mark  i,  8. 

11.  Symbolical  Baptism. 

We  divide  this  part  of  our  subject  into  two  parts,  namely, 
baptisms  in  the  Old  Testament  and  baptisms  in  the  New. 

I.  Baptisms  in  the  Old  Testament. 

We  have  here  to  prove,  first,  that  there  were  various 
personal  baptisms  imposed  by  Moses ;  and,  second,  that 
none  of  these  were  by  immersion. 

1.  There  were  various  baptisms  imposed  hy  Moses,  and 
those  so  called  were  personal. 

St.  Paul  tells  us,  that  the  Mosaic  ritual  "  stood  in  meats, 
and  drinks,  and  divers  baptisms,  (Greek,  diacpopoLi; 
(3aTrrtGi.wig,)  and  carnal  ordinances,  imposed  on  them  until 
the  time  of  reformation,"  under  Christ.  There  were  divers 
or  various  baptisms  then  under  the  old  dispensation.  These 
baptisms  were  personal,  as  may  be  shown, 

(1.)  From  a  correct  translation  of  the  passage.  Profes- 
sor Stuart's  is  as  follows  :  "  Meats,  and  drinks,  and  divers 
washings — ordinances  pertaining  to  the  flesh."  This 
means  that  the  meats,  drinks,  and  baptisms,  were  all  in- 
cluded, as  ordinances  pertaining  to  the  flesh  or  body. 
The  baptisms  were,  therefore,  personal.  (2.)  From  the 
apostle's  argument.  He  contrasts  the  efllcacy  of  the  blood 
of  Christ,  conceptually  applied  to  the  person,  with  the  in- 
eflicacy  of  these  various  baptisms  visibly  applied  to  the 
person,  in  purifying  the  conscience.  (3.)  Immersions  there 
were  of  cups,  &c. ;  but  these  were  not  for  the  purpose  of 
cleansing  the  conscience,  but  to  render  those  things  fit  for 
the  use  of  the  clean  person.  These,  therefore,  could  not 
have  been  contrasted  with  the  blood  of  Christ,  nor  included 
in  the  various  baptisms.  Those  baptisms  were,  therefore, 
purely  personal. 


XXIX.]  SYMBOLICAL   BAPTISM.  423 

2.  These  '•^various  baptisms,''  then,  were  "imposed;" 
and  they  were  personal :  we  must  now  walk  through  the  Old 
Testament,  and  show  that  none  of  the  personal  baptisms 
were  immersion. 

We  prepare  the  way,  by  one  sweeping  affirmation,  that 
the  Hebrew  word  for  immerse  is  not  once  used  in  the 
commands  which  impose  the  modes  of  these  "  various  bap- 
tisms." The  English  words  are,  sprinkle,  wash,  hathe, 
neither  of  which  imposed  the  specific  mode,  immersion.  If, 
in  performing  the  command,  the  will-worship  of  the  Jew 
selected  that  mode,  it  was  the  Jew  who  chose,  not  God 
who  "  imposed,"  the  mode.  Washing,  when  its  purpose  is, 
not  physical,  but  symbolical  cleanness,  requires  not  total- 
ity. The  word  rendered  bathe  simply  signifies  to  wash. 
Even  with  the  bad  rendering,  "  bathe,"  a  false  idea  will 
not  be  received  by  those  who  are  aware,  that  in  the  East 
bathing  is  performed,  not  by  immersion,  but  by  afilision.* 
We  specify  some  of  these  "  various  baptisms,"  "  imposed  " 
by  Moses. 

There  was  the  baptism  of  the  priests,  (Ex.  xxix,  4,) 
expressive  of  peculiar  sanctity.  At  the  door  of  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  congregation,  Moses  was  to  ivash  with  water, 
and  sprinkle,  with  blood  and  oil,  Aaron  and  his  sons. 

There  was  the  baptism  of  the  Levites.  He  was  to 
"  sprinkle  water  of  purifying  upon  them — and  let  them 
wash  their  clothes,  and  so  maJte  themselves  clean." 

There  was  the  baptism  of  the  lepers.  The  priest  was 
to  make  a  brush  of  cedar  and  hyssop,  tied  with  a  scarlet 
thread,  and,  dipping  the  brush  into  the  blood  of  a  slain  bird, 
sprinkle  it  upon  the  leper  seven  times. 

There  was  the  water  of  separation,  or  purification, 
after  the  preparing  of  which  "  the  priest  shall  wash  his 
clothes  and  shall  bathe  himself  in  water."  "  The  purify- 
ing of  the  Jews  "  was  performed  (John  ii,  6)  with  water- 
pots  containing  six  or  eight  gallons. 

There  was  the  cleansing  from  a  dead  man.  Whoever 
touched  a  corpse  was  unclean,  and  if  he  did  not  purify 
himself,  was  to  be  cut  off,  "  because  the  water  of  purifica- 
tion was  not  sprinkled  upon  him."  To  this  the  word 
haptizo  is  expressly  applied  in  the  Greek  of  the  Apocrypha. 

*  See  Bush's  Scripture  Illustrations,  p.  473. 


424  THE  DOUBLE  BAPTISM.  [SEK. 

There  was  the  baptism  of  all  the  people.  When  Mo- 
ses had  spoken  every  precept  to  all. the  people,  according 
to  the  law,  he  took  the  blood  of  calves  and  of  goats,  with 
water,  and  scarlet  wool,  and  hyssop,  and  sprinkled  both  the 
book  and  all  the  people.     (Was  not  similar  John's  baptism 

of  "  ALL  JUDEA  ?") 

Such  were  the  "various  baptisms  imposed"  by  the 
Mosaic  law.  None  of  them  were  immersion.  If  the 
Jews  made  immersion  of  them,  it  would  be  an  insult  to  in- 
spiration to  suppose,  that  St.  Paul  should  inaccurately 
represent  the  practices  of  men  as  "imposed"  by  God. 
But  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  in  the  arid  desert,  in 
which,  for  forty  years,  the  Israelites  wandered,  where,  at 
the  present  day,  the  Mohammedan  Arab  rubs  sand  for 
water  upon  his  body,  as  his  sacred  ablution,  they  could 
have  expended  water  in  voluntary  religious  immersions. 
We  have  thus  upon  this  question  swept  the  Old  Testament 
clear;  there  were  various  baptisms,  but  no  immersion. 

Let  not  the  importance  of  Old  Testament  baptism, 
nor  its  identity  with  that  of  the  New,  be  undervalued. 
The  one  great  purpose  of  all  religion,  pervading  the 
whole  system  of  revelation,  the  cleansing  and  renewing 
man's  depraved  nature,  hy  the  dispensation  of  God's  Spirit 
from  on  high,  is  the  one  great  idea  which  the  entire  sys- 
tem of  water  lustrations  in  both  Testaments  represents. 
The  complexity  of  a  former  dispensation  required  that 
they  should  be  various;  the  simplicity  of  the  new  con- 
densed them  down  to  one,  and  that  one  to  occupy  the  ini- 
tiatory place  of  abolished  circumcision. 

In  the  four  hundred  years  between  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  New,  the  Jewish  rabbis  invented  the  baptism  of 
converts  to  the  faith ;  and  that  baptism  was  expressed  by 
the  Hebrew  word  for  immersion,  and  doubtless  by  the  un- 
changed classic  l3anri^G).  Forty  years  before  Christ,  at 
least,  proselyte  immersion  was  a  topic  of  debate  in  the 
Hebrew  schools.  We  have  then,  in  this  interval,  placed, 
side  by  side,  the  divine  institution  of  atfusion  and  sprink- 
ling, and  the  human  invention  of  convert  immersion.  If 
immersion  is  true,  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  denouncer  of 
human  traditions,  added  to  the  divine,  did  reject  the  divine, 
and  adopt  into  his  own  system  one  of  those  very  tradi- 
tions, namely,  convert  immersion.     Omitting  those  modes 


XXIX.]  SYMBOLICAL   BAPTISM.  425 

which  the  word  of  God  "imposed,"  as  significant  of  his 
"outpouring"  and  his  cleansing,  he  imported,  from  the 
Jewish  rabbis,  a  mode,  which,  as  before  said,  gives  not 
God  the  glorj,  and  bears  the  lineaments  of  Pharisaic  pa- 
rentage in  its  face. 

The  Greek  word,  (Sanri^o),  introduced  to  express  con- 
vert immersion,  would  naturally  become  applied,  vernacu- 
larly, to  express  any  sacred  ablution.  And  accordingly 
we  find  it  incontestably  applied,  in  the  Greek  of  the  Apoc- 
rypha, to  designate  the  sprinkling  of  the  man  contaminated 
by  a  corpse.  Sirach  xxxiv,  25.  When  John  the  Baptist 
came,  it  was,  doubtless,  then  the  most  obvious  vernacular 
word  for  him  to  appropriate,  both  to  the  real  purification 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  its  visible  symbol  of  outpoured 
water. 

We  enter  the  New  Testament,  then,  with  the  full  con- 
sciousness that  the  burden  of  proof  lies  upon  the  immer- 
sionist.  He  cannot  say  that  the  word,  in  its  sacred  use, 
secures  the  presumption  in  his  favor,  for  we  have  repeat- 
edly proved  it  to  mean  affusion.  We  additionally  claim 
that  it  is  for  him  to  prove  that  affusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  visibly  imaged  hy  immersion  !  At  the  threshold  of  the 
New  Testament  we  have  a  right  to  stand  still  and  say  to 
him,  "  Prove  your  immersionism."  Failure  in  any  point 
is  demonstration  against  him. 

11.  New  Testament  baptisms. 

These  we  divide  into  three  kinds :  baptism  irrespective 
of  locality ;  in-door  baptism ;  and  out-door  baptism. 

1.  Baptism  irrespective  of  locality.  There  are  allusions 
to  baptism,  founded  on  resemblance.  When  baptism  is 
compared  to  the  passage  of  the  cloud  and  the  sea — to  the 
flood — and  to  a  burial,  much  wild  allegorizing  would  be 
saved,  if  it  were  first  inquired  and  settled,  in  what  point 
the  resemblance  lay.  The  resemblance  may  be  in  the 
form,  in  the  element,  in  the  nature,  in  the  import,  or  in 
the  spiritual  prototype.  Commentators  and  controversial- 
ists, neglecting  this,  have,  on  both  sides,  run  into  fancied 
parallelisms,  and  always  in  the  form,  of  course ;  both  sides 
have  been  equally  extravagant  and  about  equally  success- 
ful. The  true  commentator  will  ask,  In  what  does  the  in- 
tended resemblance  lie  ?  And  judging  the  intention,  first, 
by  the  demands  of  the  argument,  and,  second,  by  the  pre- 


426  THE   DOUBLE   BAPTISM.  [SER. 

cise  amount  of  the  words,  he  will  utterly  repudiate  any 
addition  of  others'  gratuitous  nonsense  to  the  apostle's  ex- 
pressed sense. 

Thus  when  the  Israelites  are  said  to  be  "  baptized  unto 
Moses,  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea,"  in  what  does  the  argu- 
ment require  the  resemblance  to  lie  ?  Plainly  in  the 
import  of  baptism,  namely,  consecration.  The  argument 
is,  though  the  Israelites  were  consecrated  to  Moses  by  the 
miraculous  deliverance  through  the  sea,  and  the  relief  of 
the  cloud,  yet  they  rebelled  against  him  ;  so  we,  baptismally 
consecrated  to  Christ,  may  rebel  against  him,  and  be  lost. 
This  sense  the  phrase  "  baptized  into"  a  person  or  thing 
requires,  meaning,  as  it  always  does,  consecrated  to  its  ob- 
ject. Now  this  argument  is  equally  valid,  whatever  be 
the  form.  And  though  the  water  of  the  sea  may  have 
suggested  the  term  baptism,  we  have  no  belief  that  the 
apostle,  in  thought,  called  up  the  form. 

Yet,  if  we  must  run  out  the  parallel  of  form,  the  affu- 
sionist  will  have,  by  a  chance  trifle,  the  advantage.  That 
nice  immersion  formed,  by  the  sea  on  each  side,  and  the 
cloud  over  head,  has  only  existed  in  sprightly  fancy  ;  for,  in 
fact,  the  cloud  was  behind,  not  above,  the  Israelites,  in 
their  pass  through  the  sea.  Immersion  there  was  not ;  for 
they  passed  over  on  "  dry  ground."  Aifusion  there  may 
have  been  ;  for  a  strong  wind  existed,  to  produce  a  spray. 
As  for  the  cloud  at  the  sea,  it  seems  to  have  been  a  dry 
one  ;  and  neither  immersion  nor  affusion  can  be  extracted 
from  it.  A  passage  in  Judges  v,  4,  however,  in  describing 
something  very  like  this  scene,  says,  "  the  heavens  drop- 
ped, the  clouds  also  dropped  water." 

The  passage,  1  Peter  iii,  21,  has  been  overlaid  with 
various  strata  of  commentary.  Just  so  far  as  the  apostle 
asserts,  we  will  admit ;  not  a  syllable  further.  Having 
told  us  that  in  the  ark  "  few  persons  were  saved  by  water," 
he  adds,  "  the  antitype  whereunto,  namely,  baptism,  doth 
now  save  us,"  cautiously  superaddmg  that  still  the  baptism 
must  not  be  merely  symbolical,  but  real.  Now  this  is  all. 
Water  of  the  flood  incidentally  suggests  water  of  baptism. 
Noah  was  saved  by  one,  as  the  occasional  cause  ;  we  are 
saved  by  the  other,  as  the  occasional,  spiritual  baptism 
being  the  essential  cause.  Now  if  any  one  will  run  out  a 
parallel  touching  the  ark  sprinkled,  or  the  ark  immersed; 


XXIX.]  SYMBOLICAL   BAPTISM.  427 

both  will  measurably  succeed,  and  both  will  partially  fail. 
The  affusionist  will  not  be  able  to  deny  that  both  shower 
above  and  flood  beneath  will  make  a  compound  immersion ; 
and  the  immersionist,  with  all  his  force,  will  not  be  able  to 
make  the  necessary  submerging  plunge  of  the  ark  into  the 
depths  of  the  water. 

But  the  immersionist  lights  upon  the  phrase,  "  buried 
with  him  hy  baptism"  (Rom.  vi,  4,  and  Col.  ii,  12,  in  bap- 
tism,) and  cries,  "  'EvprjKa  ;  here  the  allusion  must  be  to  the 
form."  Yet  we  fearlessly  affirm  that  the  allusion  to  the 
form  is  unproved,  unnecessary,  and  improbable. 

The  apostle  is  enforcing  the  duty  of  the  Christian  to  be 
holy.  He  does  this  by  a  threefold  parallel  between  the 
Christian's  repentance,  church  profession,  and  sanctifica- 
tion,  and  Christ's  death,  burial,  and  resurrection.     Thus, 

Renunciation  ')  Baptismal  pro-  ^  Holy  life  is 

OF      sin     is  >-        FESSION  IS  BU-  >-        RESURREC- 
DEATH,  )        RIAL,  )        TION. 

I.  Death.  Renunciation  of  sin  is  death  to  sin.  "  How 
shall  we,  that  are  dead  to  sin,  live  any  longer  therein  ?'* 
Verse  2.  As  Christ,  in  death,  closed  his  sensibilities  to  all 
the  wicked  world  around  him,  so  the  Christian,  in  repent- 
ance, closes  his  sensibilities  to  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil.  Thus  is  made  out  the  image  of  death.  Changing 
the  numerical  order,  we  explain  next 

in.  The  RESURRECTION.  As  holiness  is  a  new  life, 
and  resurrection  is  a  new  life,  so  in  this  threefold  parallel, 
sanctification  is  resurrection.  Like  as  Christ  was  raised 
up  from  the  dead,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  new- 
ness of  life-  The  parallel  is  chiefly  verbal ;  but  as  his 
purpose  is,  not  reasoning,  but  illustration,  it  accomplishes 
his  object. 

II.  The  burial.  Where  the  death  is  repentance,  and 
the  resurrection  is  sanctification,  what  now  is  the  interme- 
diate burial  ?  A  cool  deposit  of  the  body  under  water ! 
Immeasurable  bathos !  But  we  object  not  to  the  solecism 
in  the  rhetoric ;  we  denounce  the  heresy  in  the  theology. 
It  gives  to  corporeal  motion  a  superstitious  value.  It 
makes  our  conformity  to  Christ's  burial  consist  in  a  mere 
horizontal  position  of  body.  It  is  the  very  essence  of  Popery. 

Again  we  ask,  where  the  death  is  repentance,  and  the 
resurrection  sanctification,  what  is  the  intermediate  burial  ? 


428  THE  DOUBLE    BAPTISM.  [SER. 

Most  persons  would,  we  think,  answer,  A  Christian  profes- 
sion. And  this  is  by  baptism.  Baptism,  whatever  be  its 
mode,  is  the  act  of  professed  dedication  to  the  Trinity,  con- 
secration to  Christianity,  and  imbodiment  into  the  church. 
As  Christ  was  buried  from  the  scenes  of  external  nature 
into  the  tomb,  so  the  Christian,  in  baptismal  dedication,  is 
buried  from  the  world  into  Christ's  body,  the  church.  Thus 
whatever  is  the  form  of  the  mere  rite,  repentance  is  the 
death,  baptism  is  the  burial,  and  holiness  the  resurrection. 
Yet  if  the  corporeal  allusion  be  still  insisted  on,  and  must 
be  conceded,  we  affirm,  it  makes  nothing  for  immersion. 
Deposit  a  body  in  the  grave,  and  let  it  lie  there  for  ever — 
you  have  not  buried  it.  Something  must  descend,  be 
sprinkled,  or  poured  upon  it.  Meantime,  if  this  one  phrase 
of  burying  must  exert  so  all-controlling  a  power  in  modi- 
fying the  form  of  baptism,  those  numerous  passages  which 
describe  a  baptism  by  God's  "  outpouring  "  must  and 
shall  have  a  little  omnipotence  in  them  too.  If  one  must 
be  satisfied,  both  shall  be  satisfied.  Nay,  more ;  if  this 
comparatively  casual  allusion  must  l>o  regarded,  the  great 
instituted  relation  of  the  symbol  to  its  reality  shall  im- 
measurably predominate.  The  burying  shall  be  by  pour- 
ing. If  either  rule,  the  pouring  is  a  thousand  fold  the 
master.  K  any  one  object,  that  the  sprinkling  of  a  few 
drops  of  water  cannot  be  the  burial  of  a  whole  man,  we 
answer.  The  apostle  was  too  good  a  scholar  and  too  great  a 
traveler,  to  be  ignorant,  that  the  Romans,  to  whose  capital 
he  was  writing,  held  that  a  little  dust,  thrice  sprinkled,  was 
ritually  considered  a  complete  burial.  Symbols  ever  in- 
cline to  be  abridgments  ;  and  we  ought  to  be  better  philo- 
sophers than  to  demand,  or  to  suppose,  that  human  nature 
demands,  that  emblems  must  mathematically  fill  out  the 
complete  dimensions  of  their  objects.  Besides,  the  ob- 
jector little  realizes  the  vividness  of  the  apostle's  allusions. 
In  the  very  preceding  verse  (Col.  ii,  11)  he  makes  cir- 
cumcision "  a  putting  off  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh." 
Now  if  he  could  magnify  the  minute  operation  of  the  cir- 
cumcision-knife, cutting  but  a  single  fibre,  into  a  severing 
of  a  whole  "  body,''  then  he  could  easily  magnify  a  drop 
upon  a  man's  head  into  a  burial  of  his  whole  person.  Fi- 
nally, the  apostle  expressly  says  it  was  by  affusion.  For 
we  have  abundantly  proved  that,  in  the  New  Testament 


XXIX.]  SYMBOLICAL  BAPTISM.  429 

ritual,  baptism  means  affusion.  The  phrase  should  be 
translated,  "  buried  with  him  by  affusion ;"  and  to  ask 
whether  it  be  by  affusion,  is  to  ask  whether  affusion  is  af- 
fusion. 

2.    Out-door  baptisms. 

In  this  class  of  cases,  the  immersionist  can  avail  him- 
self of  a  very  unfair  advantage  arising  from  the  different 
habits  of  different  climates.  We  are  to  transport  our- 
selves to  a  torrid  clime,  where  sleeping  in  the  open  air, 
living  in  the  desert  unsheltered,  free  familiarity  with  water 
in  all  seasons  are  customary,  and  often  a  luxury.  Accus- 
tomed to  polished  calfskins  and  delicate  prunellas,  to  wet 
which  is  often  inconvenient  and  unhealthy,  we  forget  that 
the,  Jews  with  their  sandals  (a  mere  shaped  shingle, 
strapped  upon  the  sole  of  the  foot)  would  step  into  the  wa- 
ter, almost  unconsciously,  on  all  occasions  possible.  To 
wash  the  feet  was  ever  a  relief  and  pleasure ;  and  they 
would  not,  like  a  northerner,  carefully  stop  at  the  water 
edge.  They  would  baptize,  whether  by  sprinkling  or  by  im- 
mersion, in  the  river.  Just  as  the  ceremony  is,  in  reality, 
engraved  in  the  most  ancient  pictures  extant,  the  humble 
candidate  would  kneel  in  the  river,  where  both  admmis- 
trator  and  subject  would  have  gone,  and  there  would  be 
performed  the  symbol  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  and 
the  Pentecostal  fire. 

The  cases  are  three — 1.  John*s  baptism;  2.  Baptism 
of  Christ ;  3.  The  eunuch. 

(1.)  John's  baptism.  It  is  just  what  we  might  expect 
of  the  great  itinerant  field-preacher,  to  whom  all  Judea  re- 
sorted, that  he  should  baptize,  whether  by  immersion  or 
affusion,  "  m  the  river.''  We  need  not  be  obliged  to  avail 
ourselves  of  the  fact,  that  the  Jordan  had  double  banks, 
and  that  a  man  may  stand  "  in  the  river,"  on  dry  ground. 
We  will  hold,  most  religiously,  that  he  walked  with  his 
candidate  not  only  into  the  river,  but  into  the  water ;  and 
what  did  he  there  ?  He  tells  us  himself,  that  he  was  to  be 
followed  by  Him  who  was  to  "  sprinkle  all  nations ;"  and 
that  his  own  water  baptism  was  but  the  type  of  his  great 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit  and  the  jire. 

There  are  great  difficulties  in  believing,  that  when  Luke 
tells  us  of  John,  that  "  all  the  people  were  baptized ;" 
and  Mark,  that  "  there  went  to  him  all  the  land  of  Judea, 


430  THE   DOUBLE   BAPTISM.  [SER. 

and  they  of  Jerusalem  ;"  and  Matthew,  more  than  all,  that 
there  "  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem  and  all  Judea,  and 
ALL  the  region  round  about  Jordan,"  the  whole  could  have 
been  immersed.  These  mass  meetings  must  have  consisted 
of  millions ;  and  no  wonder  John  should,  in  a  thirsty  land, 
have  sought  a  place  of  "  many  waters."  It  has  been  safely 
calculated,  that  if  one-half  the  masses  here  named  were 
immersed,  John  must  have  immersed  nearly  forty  a 
minute  ;*  and  that,  too,  allowing  them  time  for  "  confess- 
ing their  sins."  We  may  fairly  label  this,  impossibility 
number  fourth. 

(2.)  Baptism  of  Christ.  Brevity  obhges,  and  the  advan- 
tage of  our  position  enables,  us  to  present  two  concessions  to 
the  immersionist.  Let  him  have,  what  he  could  not  main- 
tain, his  Greek  prepositions  and  his  no-priesthood  of  Christ. 
Jesus  went  down  into  the  water  and  came  up  out  of  the  wa- 
ter. But  what  was  done  while  in  the  water  ?  Just  that  bap- 
tism was  performed  between  the  banks,  with  the  element 
of  water,  which  was  performed  on  the  bank,  with  the  ele- 
ment Spirit.  "The  Spirit  of  God,  descending  in  bodily 
shape  as  a  dove,"  did  not  immerse  him ;  nor  did  the  water 
imitation  of  it. 

(3.)  The  Ethiopian  eunuch.  The  Ethiopian  was  read- 
ing that  description  of  the  Messiah  (in  our  version  unhap- 
pily cut  in  two  by  the  chapters)  which  promises,  "  So  shall 
he  sprinkle  all  nations  ;"  a  promise  verified  by  the  com- 
mand, "  Go  baptize  all  nations."  Accordingly,  when  the 
thing  had  been  explained  to  him  we  see  why,  at  the  close 
of  Philip's  exposition,  he  feels,  as  one  of  all  nations,  he  is 
a  claimant  of  sprinkled  baptism.  We  fling  in  to  the  im- 
mersionist his  preposition,  and  give  him  his  strongest 
ground,  and  what  can  he  make  of  it?  They  both  went 
down  (from  the  chariot)  into  the  water,  and  came  up  (to 
the  chariot)  out  of  the  water.  Whether  they  went  far 
enough  into  the  water  to  submerge  Philip's  sandals  is  not 
said ;  but  we  venture  to  believe,  that  any  Arab,  or  south- 
ern Jew,  would  snatch  the  luxury  of  a  knee-deep  walk 
into  the  fresh  element,  whether  to  pour  or  to  sprinkle  his 
kneeling  candidate.  They  went  then,  at  least,  knee-deep, 
and  what  then  was  done  ?  Read  no  further,  and  no  mortal 
could  tell.  But  whatever  he  did,  he  performed  (the  verifi- 
*  Hibbard's  Christian  Baptism,  p.  23. 


XXIX.]  SYMBOLICAL   BAPTISM.  431 

cation  of  the  promise  to  "  sprinkle  all  nations")  the  sym- 
bol of  the  affusion  of  the  Spirit. 

3.  In-door  baptism. 

By  in-door  baptism,  we  mean  those  baptisms,  the  whole 
narrative  of  which,  places  and  leaves  them  in  some  house. 
And  now  we  say  it  is  a  strong  negative  evidence  against 
immersion,  that  not  once,  in  all  these  instances,  is  it  men- 
tioned either  that  they  went  out,  or  that  any  preparation 
or  apparatus  was  provided  within.  Did  the  word  of  itself 
express  immersion,  still,  in  the  many  cases,  we  should  rea- 
sonably expect  that  some  natural  explanation  would  once 
be  dropped,  in  a  book  so  remarkable  for  its  minute  detail 
of  individual  transactions  as  the  Bible,  showing  how,  in 
difficult  circumstances,  the  immersion  was  effected.  Not 
once  does  it  occur.  The  most  natural  air  possible,  of  the 
thing  being  done  instanter,  and  on  the  spot ;  if  out-doors, 
out-doors  ;  if  in-doors,  within.  Baths  and  cisterns,  so  ex- 
tensively manufactured  in  modern  times,  for  ancient  use, 
are  mentioned  not  once  in  the  whole  New  Testament. 
Other  vessels  or  "  pots,"  expressly  made  for  the  purifica- 
tions of  the  Jews  by  water  affusion,  there  were ;  but  these 
"pots"  contained  but  two  or  three  firkins,  some  six  or 
eight  gallons,  apiece  ;  good  proof  that,  in  our  Saviour's 
time,  the  lustral  rites,  the  "  various  baptisms,"  "  imposed 
until  the  time  of  reformation,"  were  not  by  immersion. 

(1.)  Our  first  argument  will  consist. of  an  assemblage  of 
texts.  We  have  just  shown  that,  in  our  Saviour's  time, 
the  Jews  performed  the  Mosaic  baptisms  or  purifications 
by  water,  with  "  water-pots "  containing  six  or  eight  gal- 
lons; another  impossibihty  of  immersion.  That  these 
"purifications"  were  called  "various  baptisms,"  not  by  St. 
Paul  alone,  is  evident  from  John  iii,  22-27.  The  facts 
are,  John  and  Jesus  were  baptizing ;  a  dispute  arose  be- 
tween their  disciples  about  purifying  ;^  John's  disciples 
came  and  told  him  that  Jesus's  baptism  was  prevailing; 
John  told  them  it  ought  to  prevail.  Nothing  but  utter 
captiousness  will  deny,  here,  that  baptism  is  called  purify- 
ing ;  for  a  dispute  about  purifying  is  identified  as  a  dis- 
pute about  baptism.  Put  baptism  in  the  place  of  purify- 
ing, and  a  coherent  story  is  produced.  Deny  this  identity, 
and  all  coherency  is  destroyed.  But  among  these  baptisms 
or  purifications,  "  all  the  Jews "  performed  a  baptism 


432  THE  DOUBLE  BAPTISM.  [SER. 

upon  their  own  persons,  every  time  they  came  from  the  mar- 
ket ;  as  well  as  upon  the  couches  (English,  tables ;  Mark 
vii,  4)  on  which  several  persons  often  reclined  at  meals. 
Here  then  we  have  immersions  of  men,  and  couches  larger 
than  men,  with  no  other  vessel  supplied  than  eight  gallon 
pots.  The  immersion  of  couches  at  all  is  unsustained  by 
any  authority,  (the  statement  of  Maimonides  is  ten  centu- 
ries too  late,)  and  may  be  pronounced  a  fair  impossibihty. 

(2.)  The  Pentecostal  baptism.  That  twelve  persons,  in 
some  eight  hours,  should  immerse  three  thousand  unpre- 
pared strangers,  is  a  physical  impossibility.  That  a  scene 
so  hurried  and  little  solemn  should  take  place,  under  apos- 
tolic authority,  is,  to  say  the  least,  morally  improbable. 
Such  are  the  difficulties  in  regard  to  time. 

But  equal  difficulties  regard  the  place.  The  Kedron,  in 
June,  was  dry  and  filthy ;  the  pools  distant  or  small.  Be- 
sides, the  scenes  of  the  crucifixion  had  lately  transpired ; 
and  nothing  but  a  miracle,  which  we  are  unauthorized  to 
suppose,  would  have  rendered  the  public  notoriety  of  an 
immersion  of  so  many,  safe.  Finally,  but  an  hour  ago 
had  occurred  the  visible  baptism  of  fire,  performed  by  the 
limited  descent  of  the  element,  as  the  type ;  how  then 
would  the  inspired  apostles  perform  the  baptism  of  water 
to  render  it  the  antitype  ?  Peter  had  just  said  that  the 
spiritual  baptism  was  "  shed  forth ;"  would  he  have  pro- 
nounced a  water  baptism,  "  shed  forth,"  no  baptism  ? 

(3.)  Saul.  Three  days  had  he  been  sunk  in  feebleness 
and  fasting,  when  he  "  arose  and  was  baptized,"  and  then 
"received  meat  and  was  strengthened."  Strange,  that 
where  every  movement  is  detailed  with  wonderful  minute- 
ness, no  going  forth  in  his  weak  state  to  a  river  could  have 
been  mentioned  !  The  whole  air  of  it  is  that  he  just  stood 
up  from  his  prostration,  in  order  to  be  baptized  while  upon 
his  feet. 

(4.)  The  Gentiles  with  Cornelius.  "  Then  Peter  an- 
swered, Can  any  man  forbid  water,  that  these  should  not 
be  baptized,  which  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well 
as  we  ?"  God  had  just  (two  verses  previous)  "  poured  out 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  upon  them;  why  should  not 
be  "poured  out  the  gift"  of  water  baptism?  Who  could 
"forbid,"  or  prevent,  the  approximation  of  the  latter  to 
those  who  had  "  received  "  the  former  ?     The  whole  con- 


XXIX.]  SYBIBOLICAL  BAPTISM.  433 

struction  of  Peter's  question  is  so  casually  natural,  on 
the  hypothesis  of  the  application  of  the  water  to  the  per- 
son, instead  of  the  person  to  the  water,  as  to  insinuate  con- 
viction into  the  inmost  mind.  The  real  and  the  symbolical 
are  here  most  strikingly  paralleled. 

(5.)  The  jailer's  family.  There  were  an  inner  prison 
and  an  outer  prison,  and  the  jailer's  residence,  all  probably 
in  one  inclosure.  The  jailer  "  brought  them  out "  of  the 
inner  to  the  common  prison,  where  they  spoke  unto  him  the 
word  of  the  Lord  with  all  his  family,  who  were  doubtless 
called,  by  the  excitement  of  the  earthquake  and  outcry,  to 
the  spot.  There,  in  the  outer  prison,  they  must  have  been 
baptized,  for  it  was  not  until  after  the  baptism  that  the 
jailer  "  brought  them  into  his  house."  That  they  were  in 
any  other  place,  there  is  no  divine  authority  for  saying. 
The  baptism,  then,  on  the  face  of  the  record,  could  not  have 
been  immersion. 

Two  spurious  interpolations  have,  however,  been  in- 
serted into  the  narrative,  in  order  to  make  an  immersion. 
One  places  a  tank  in  the  jail !  The  other  invents  a  jour- 
ney to  the  river  Strymon.  Now  the  burden  of  the  proof 
lies  upon  the  immersionist.  If  a  man  say,  Here  is  murder, 
he  must  show  all  the  requisite  circumstances  of  murder.  If 
he  say.  Here  is  immersion,  he  must  -prove ^  not  assume,  the 
requisites  of  an  immersion.  He  must  make  out,  not  a 
possibility,  nor  a  supposition,  but  a  certainty,  or  it  was  not 
immersion.     But  the  certainty  lies  on  the  other  side. 

(a)  There  was  no  tank  or  bath  in  the  jail.  A  bath  in 
a  Roman  prison  ?  A  piano  in  Bridewell  as  much  !  Phi- 
lippi  was  not  in  Burmah,  nor  Palestine,  but  in  northern 
Greece,  in  the  very  latitude  of  "  snowy  Thrace."  Truly, 
the  humanity  that  could  thrust  the  innocent  apostles,  all 
bloody  with  wounds,  into  the  irons  of  the  inner  prison,  was 
quite  likely  to  provide  a  bath  for  the  cleanliness  and  lux- 
ury of  its  victims  ! 

(6)  The  apostles,  the  jailer,  and  all  his  family,  took  no 
trip  at  midnight  to  the  Strymon.  A  city  at  the  close  of  an 
earthquake  is  all  uproar  ;  and  for  the  wife,  &c.,  of  the  jailer, 
with  his  prisoners,  to  have  gone  forth,  could  have  been  safe 
only  with  a  miracle.  Besides,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
a  writer  of  sense  would  have  omitted  so  extraordinary,  as 
well  as  so  essential,  a  link  in  the  train.  A  midnight  im- 
19 


434  THE  rOUELE   BAPTISM.  [SER. 

mersion  in  the  cold  Strymon,  of  wife  and  all,  before  going 
home,  even  for  a  change  of  garments,  is  an  item  well  cal- 
culated to  arrest  both  the  writer's  and  reader's  attention,  and 
could  not  have  been  skipped.  Further,  we  have  even  the 
faith  of  the  apostles  for  it,  that  they  did  not  go  out.  The 
authority  of  the  magistrates  had  placed  them  in  the  inner 
prison,  and  the  jailer  had  no  more  legal  power  to  take  them 
to  the  Strymon,  than  to  the  Hudson.  AVhen,  therefore, 
the  apostles  refused  to  go  at  the  dismission  of  the  magis- 
trates, it  was  expressly  asserting  that  they  not  only  ivould 
not  go,  but  had  not  gone  out  from  the  legal  custody  of  the 
magistrates.  Their  language,  if  they  had  once  released 
themselves  '■^  privily,^''  was  based  upon  concealment  and 
equivocation.  The  magistrates  might  have  fairly  replied, 
"  With  what  face  can  these  men  pretend  that  they  will  not 
go  out  without  our  formal  command,  when  they  have  al- 
ready gone  by  the  mere  connivance  of  the  jailer,  and  are 
now  in  prison  only  by  voluntarily  imprisoning  themselves  ? 
If  the  jailer's  permit  was  sufficient  for  the  Strymon,  it  is 
good  to  the  Tyber."  There  was  no  leaving  the  prison, 
then ;  and  there  was  no  bath  in  the  prison  ;  there  was  a 
baptism,  but  no  immersion.  This  is  a  moral  certainty.  It 
closes  our  Scripture  argument. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  was  not  immersion  the  practice 
of  the  first  two  centuries  of  the  Christian  church?  No 
evidence  of  it  whatever.  Immersion,  as  a  human  invention, 
among  the  Jews,  Ave  have  already  acknowledged  to  have 
existed  anterior  to  our  Saviour  himself  Thence,  aided 
by  the  tendencies  of  a  southern  climate,  by  the  growing 
propensities  of  the  church  toward  superabundant  rituals, 
and  by  the  prevailing  classic  signification  of  the  word 
baptizo,  it  became,  with  many  other  corruptions,  prevalent 
in  the  Romish  Church,  in  the  form  of  immersion,  naked, 
and  three  times  repeated  !  Yet,  the  most  satisfactory  proofs 
exist  of  the  earlier  prevalence  of  sprinkling.  In  both  the 
apostolic  fathers,  Barnabas  (if  genuine)  and  Hernias,  the 
very  earliest  of  uncanonical  writers,  clear  allusions  to  bap- 
tismal sprinkling  exist.  In  Justin  Martyr's  Apology  to 
the  emperor,  A.  D.  150,  he  avoids  the  use  of  the  word 
haptizo,  which  the  emperor  might  classically  construe  im- 
mersion, and  uses  the  word  Xovo,  to  wash ;  while,  in  his 
other  writings,  he  uses  the  word  baptizo — a  most  remark- 


XXIX.]  SYMBOLICAL    BAPTISM.  435 

able  indication  that  the  classic  and  sacred  meanings  of  the 
word  differed.  In  the'Latin  Church,  the  earliest  transla- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  made  too  early  for  historic  record, 
(emended  by  Jerome,  383,  thence  known  as  the  Vulgate,) 
avoiding  the  word  immersio,  transfers  unchanged  the  Greek 
baptizo — another  clear  indication  that  the  two  were  not 
considered  synonymous.  The  most  ancient  pictorial  deli- 
neations of  baptism  (as  early,  probably,  as  the  sixth  cen- 
tury) represent  the  candidate  as  poured  upon  kneeling, 
while  none  exist  of  immersion.*  The  monuments  of  the 
Greek  Church  represent  Christ  and  John  as  standing  in 
the  water,  and  John  pouring  water  on  the  head  of  Jesus. 
Coming  into  the  land  whose  soil  was  trodden,  and  whose 
language,  radically,  was  spoken,  by  Jesus  himself,  the  testi- 
mony is  abundant.  The  oldest  known  version  of  the  New 
Testament,  made  not  far  from  the  close  of  the  first  century, 
the  Syriac  Peshito,  as  Professor  Stuart  informs  us,  avoid- 
ing the  Syriac  word  for  immerse,  uses  a  word  signifying 
to  make  stand,  or  to  confirm  ;  either  because  the  candidate 
stood  in  receiving  the  rite,  or  because  baptism  confirms  him 
in  Christian  profession.  "  The  Apostolic  Liturgy,  so  called 
in  the  Syriac,  represents  Christ  as  standing  and  bowing 
his  head  in  the  water."  The  missionary  Wolfe  informs 
us,  that  in  that  land  of  immutable  customs,  a  sect  of  Syrian 
Christians,  professing  to  be  followers  of  John  the  Baptist, 
take  their  infants  to  the  river  and  sprinkle  them  ;  assigning 
as  their  reason,  that  John  baptized  at  the  river,  hy  sprink- 
ling. The  churches  of  the  Armenians,  Syro-Jacobites, 
Copts,  Abyssinians,  and  Syro-Chaldeans,  improperly  called 
Nestorians,  placing  the  candidate  in  water  to  the  neck, 
pour  water  upon  the  head.  Of  the  Greek  Church  it  is 
said,  that  thirty-five  out  of  forty-five  millions  hold,  with 
the  great  body  of  both  Protestants  and  Romanists,  that  the 
form  is  immaterial.  Affusion,  therefore,  has  not  only  im- 
measurably the  best  support  from  Scripture,  but  a  superior 
support  from  purest  tradition,  and  a  scarcely  inferior  from 
general  consent. 

The  argument,  in  compressed  form,  is  before  you.  If 
we  have  fulfilled  our  expectation,  we  have  demonstrated, 
from  the  affusion  of  the  Spirit  and  the  fire,  that  real  bap- 

*  For  most  of  the  following  facts  the  authorities  may  be  found  in 
Chapin'fi  Primitive  Church. 


486  THE   DOUBLE  BAPTISM.  [SER. 

tism  is  not  immersion ;  we  have  thence  developed  the 
great  law  of  interpretation,  which  requires  its  symbol  not  to 
be  immersion ;  we  have  accordingly  traced  the  "  various 
baptisms,"  "  imposed "  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  found 
them  not  immersions  ;  we  have  analyzed  hastily  the  allu- 
sions and  the  narrations  of  the  New  Testament,  and  found 
in  them  no  immersion ;  we  have  turned  to  pure  tradition, 
and  general  consent,  and  found  that  the  former  repudiates, 
and  the  latter  does  not  exclusively  sustain,  immersion. 
Immersion,  then,  is  not  baptism  ;  for  he  is  an  illogical  rea- 
soner,  who  first  declares  that  immersion  is  not  authorized 
by  Scripture,  that  it  does  not  express  the  idea  which  the 
divine  Mind  intended  it  to  symbolize,  and  then  declares 
that  the  form  is  indifferent.  If  our  reasons  are  sound,  our 
conclusion  is  inevitable  ;  that  affusion  alone  meets  the  di- 
vine purpose,  and  fulfils,  formally,  the  divine  command. 
We  may  indeed  admit  that  the  obedient  intention  may, 
through  the  divine  condescension,  be  accepted;  so  that, 
notwithstanding  the  formal  defect,  God  may  sanction  it  as 
done,  and  not  to  be  repeated.  But  it  may  be  most  gravely 
doubted,  whether  an  administrator,  who  understands  the 
subject,  is  justifiable  in  performing  immersion.  If  the  can- 
didate has  a  conscience  to  be  indulged,  the  minister  has  a 
conscience  to  be  maintained.  While,  however,  we  thus 
maintain  our  own  views,  we  have  not,  we  trust,  displayed 
any  illiberahty  toward  the  maintainers  of  other  j^iews.  We 
have  purposely  avoided  every  sectarian  appellation,  for  ad- 
vocates of  immersion  are  found,  perhaps,  in  every  denomi- 
nation. May  God  pour  upon  us  the  gentle  baptisms  of  his 
Holy  Spirit.     Amen. 


XXX.]  THE  RESURRECTION.  437 

SERMON  XXX. 
The  Resurrection. 

BY  REV.  G.  G.  HAPGOOD,  A.  M., 

OF   THE   BLACK   RIVEE   CONFERENCE. 

"  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  1     O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?" 

1  Cor.  XV,  55.  ^ 

Christianity  is  divine.  It  imbodies  the  noblest  sen- 
timents and  the  loftiest  aspirations  of  the  human  heart 
While  surveying  this  world  of  Hfe  and  death,  and  consign- 
ing to  the  tomb  "  lover  and  friend,"  we  must  long  for  the 
resurrection  and  reanimation  of  their  faded  forms,  the  im- 
mortality of  their  spirits,  and  a  blissful  and  eternal  reunion 
in  a  more  glorious  sphere.  Of  time  as  well  as  of  space, 
of  the  departed  as  of  the  living,  it  can  be  truly  said, — 

"  'Tis  distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view ;" 
as  time  but  hallows  their  memory,  while  it  renders  our 
affections  more  tender  and  deep.     Surely,  then,  these  feel- 
ings, natural  and  deathless,  may  be  gratified  in  a  future  life. 

Philosophy  has  oscillated  to  extremes,  now  attaching 
too  much  relative  importance  to  the  corporeal,  and  now  to 
the  spiritual,  nature  of  man ;  now  maintaining  that  he  is  a 
mere  physical  being,  and  now  contemning  his  physical  na- 
ture, to  exalt,  ostensibly,  the  spiritual ;  yet  inferring  from 
each  view,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  that  the  body  shall 
not  live  again,  by  falsely  assuming  that  our  physical  nature 
is  of  an  order  too  inferior  to  have  a  future  existence. 

While  it  is  plain  that  the  properties  of  matter  and  spirit 
are  almost  wholly  unlike,  and  that,  consequently,  their 
essence  is  as  much  dissimilar ;  and  while  it  is  equally  plain 
from  those  properties  that  spirit  is  the  superior,  it  is  as 
plain  that  matter  will  for  ever  exist  as  that  spirit  will; 
and  as  the  physical  nature  of  man  is  allied  to  the  earth, 
and  his  spiritual  to  heaven,  a  reunion  of  both  will  adapt 
him  to  the  "  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwell- 
eth  righteousness."  As  science  induces  us  to  believe  that 
the  material  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  is  nearly  homo- 
geneous, and  made  by  one  Hand  for  similar  beings,  it  is 


438  THE   RESURRECTION.  [SEK. 

highly  probable,  from  the  shadowing  renovations  of  vege- 
tation, of  days,  of  seasons,  and  of  years,  that  the  human 
body,  composed  of  the  same  materials  as  the  earth  and  the 
heavens,  shall,  at  some  future  period,  be  renovated  with 
them.  This  renewal  is  confirmed  by  the  consideration, 
that  what  is  true  of  all  other  beings,  is,  in  all  probability, 
true  of  man — that  he  was  made  to  be,  as  a  whole,  mortal 
or  immortal.  Hence  all  the  unanswerable  arguments  that 
prove  the  immortality  of  the  soul  sustain  the  resurrection 
of  the  body,  and  the  immortality  of  the  one  stands  or  falls 
with  the  resurrection  of  the  other;  and  hence  also  those 
errorists  who  deny  the  resurrection  verge  to  a  denial  of 
any  future  being. 

The  resurrection  was  denied  by  most  of  the  Grecian 
schools  of  philosophy,  and  by  the  Greeks  in  general,  when 
our  text  was  written;  hence  Paul  found  the  Christian 
converts  at  Corinth  peculiarly  liable  to  be  swerved  from 
the  faith  on  this  cardinal  point.  Indeed,  some  among 
them  had  said  already,  "  There  is  no  resurrection  of  the 
dead."  To  refute  their  error  and  vindicate  a  literal  resur- 
rection constitute  the  scope  and  design  of  a  long  chapter, 
replete  with  the  most  masterly  demonstrations  of  this  vital 
subject  that  are  to  be  found  recorded  in  the  whole  book  of 
God. 

In  explaining  the  text  it  is  necessary  to  remark,  that 
here,  as  in  other  passages,  the  relation  between  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is 
represented  to  be  so  intimate,  that  not  only  is  there  an 
easy  and  natural  transition  from  one  to  the  other,  but  the 
denial  of  the  resurrection  seems  to  be  regarded  as  involv- 
ing a  denial  of  any  future  existence ;  for  not  only  did  the 
"  Sadducees  say  that  there  is  no  resurrection,  nor  angel, 
nor  spirit,"  but  Paul  himself  would  imply  as  much,  were 
not  the  resurrection  true,  in  the  chapter  from  which  our 
text  is  selected,  where,  to  his  own  interrogation,  "  What 
advantageth  it  me,  if  the  dead  rise  not  ?"  he  replies,  in  the 
very  language  of  the  Epicureans,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink, 
for  to-morrow  we  die." 

The  first  clause  of  our  text,  "  O  death,  where  is  thy 
sting  ?"  obviously  refers  to  the  death  of  the  body,  but  it 
doubtless  looks  forward  to  the  scenes  which  lie  beyond  the 
general  resurrection,  when,  as  the  apostle  had  just  proved, 


XXX.]  THE  RESURRECTION.  439 

corporeal  death  should  have  terminated  for  ever — when, 
in  the  language  of  the  last  clause  of  the  verse  preceding, 
"  death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory."  In  the  last  interro- 
gation of  the  text,  "  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?"  it  ap- 
pears, from  the  following  considerations,  that  allusion  is 
had  to  the  destruction  of  the  state  and  place  of  departed 
spirits  in  which  they  now  exist,  and  will  exist  until  the 
resurrection ;  for  the  original,  here  translated  grave,  is 
hades,  which,  both  in  its  primitive  signification,  and  in  its 
usual  acceptation  among  all  writers,  sacred  and  profane, 
means,  not  the  receptacle  of  the  bodies,  but  that  of  the  souls, 
of  men;  and,  in  accordance  with  this  import,  is,  in  the 
Scriptures,  applied  to  the  soul  of  Christ  as  well  as  to  "  the 
rich  man,"  although  it  is  generally  applied,  in  the  New 
Testament,  to  the  state  and  place  of  the  wicked.  Again, 
hades  is  to  be  destroyed  at  the  final  judgment,  and  be  suc- 
ceeded by  the  lake  of  fire ;  for  it  is  written,  "  Death  and 
hell,"  hades,  "  and  whosoever  was  not  found  written  in  the 
book  of  life,  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire."  We  adopt, 
then,  the  marginal  reading,  and  thus  glide  easily  and  natu- 
rally from  the  destruction  of  death  to  that  of  the  coeval 
and  coextending  hades,  and  exclaim  with  the  apostle, 
"  Death,  where  thy  sting  ?     Hades,  where  thy  victory  ?" 

We  invite  attention  to  two  points : 

I.  Death. 

n.  Its  termination. 

First,  then,  of  death,  in  its  nature,  origin,  extent,  and 


Life  in  organized  beings  is  a  principle  antagonistic  to  a 
tendency  in  bodies  to  decomposition,  for  when  it  is  with- 
drawn they  decay  and  dissolve.  Physical  death,  then,  is 
the  immediate  result  of  the  separation  of  the  vital  element 
from  its  tenement ;  and  life,  as  it  resists  the  tendencies  of 
the  body,  must  be  different  from  the  body,  and  not  a  pro- 
perty of  it :  so  that  death  consists  not  in  the  destruction  of 
a  property  of  matter,  but  in  the  abstraction  of  an  element 
itself.  This  is  true  of  the  lower  as  well  as  of  the  higher 
forms  of  animated  existences. 

We  need  not  inquire  whether  man  has  an  animal  life 
irji  common  with  inferior  beings,  as  well  as  a  nobler  life 
allied  to  angels,  although  both  physiology  and  Scripture 
seem  to  favor  the  supposition ;  but  simply  determine  the 


440  THE  RESURRECTION.  [SER. 

origin  and  cause  of  death,  as  affecting  the  human  race. 
Here  let  us  premise,  that  the  question  is  not  whether 
brutes  were  made  mortal,  or  will  share  in  a  resurrection, 
although  they  afford  no  indications  of  having  been  formed 
for  immortality,  but  for  a  limited  period  of  enjoyment,  and 
then  to  pass  away  ;  the  question  is  not.  Had  man  remained 
unfallen,  would  he  have  Hved  for  ever  on  the  earth,  or 
would  he  have  been  translated  ?  nay,  the  question  is  not, 
in  strictness,  Was  man  created  mortal  ?  although  this,  as 
we  shall  subsequently  show,  is  in  the  highest  degree  im- 
probable ;  but  it  is  this :  Did  sin  cause  the  death  of  the  first 
pair,  and  through  them  that  of  our  race  ? 

The  introduction  of  sin  into  the  world  by  man  is  expli- 
citly and  repeatedly  assigned,  by  the  sacred  writers,  as  the 
sole  cause  of  death.  "  Sin  entered  into  the  world,  and 
death  by  sin ;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men."  "  By 
one  man's  offense  death  reigned  by  one."  "  By  man  came 
death."  "In  Adam  all  die."  It  may  be  objected,  that 
some,  if  not  all,  of  these  quotations  refer  to  spiritual  death  ; 
they  may,  but  they  include  a  reference  to  the  body,  be- 
cause they  are  not  restricted  to  the  moral  death  of  the 
soul,  and  mean  death  in  general,  that  of  the  body  as  well 
as  that  of  the  soul.  We  are  aware  that  this  position  has 
been  strenuously  denied,  and  that  it  has  been  afhraied  that 
the  human  body  was  originally  created  mortal ;  this,  how- 
ever, rests  on  no  solid  foundation,  for  the  only  passage 
that  can  be  tortured  to  seem  to  support  it  is  this :  "  The 
creature  was  made  subject  to  vanity."  To  interpret  this 
of  the  original  constitution  of  man,  is  to  do  violence  to  the 
passage,  and  those  in  connection  with  it;  is  to  deny  that 
God  made  man  "  very  good,"  and  most  pointedly  to  contra- 
dict our  previous  citations  from  the  same  book  of  Romans, 
which  we  have  shown  prove  that  sin,  and  sin  alone,  was 
the  cause  of  death.  Failing  here,  and  tacitly  discarding 
revelation,  reason  has  been  appealed  to,  as  if  her  voice 
would  be  raised  against  the  voice  of  her  God.  Well,  what 
is  it  declared  that  reason  says  ?  Why,  forsooth,  that  it  is 
not  probable  that  our  bodies  were  created  to  be  immortal. 
But  why  not  probable  ?  Is  not  God  wholly  good  ?  Yes. 
Did  he  not  make  man  wholly  good?  Yes.  Should  that 
which  is  wholly  good  necessarily  suffer  the  pains  of  death  ? 
No.     Then  man  was  so  made  that  he  was  not  necessitated 


XXX.]  THE  RESURRECTION.  441 

to  suffer  and  die  ?  Yes.  On  this  point,  then,  as  on  every 
other,  reason,  as  far  as  we  can  hear  her  voice,  harmonizes 
with  revelation.  But,  continues  the  objector,  did  you  not 
intimate  that  brutes  were  not  to  live  for  ever  ?  We  did ; 
yet  they  might,  and  in  all  probability  would,  had  not  man 
sinned,  and  the  ground,  with  all  upon  it,  been  cursed  for 
his  sake,  have  passed  away  painless  as  the  foliage  of  au- 
tumn ;  for  while  we  contend  that  misery  in  life  and  death 
could  not  have,  at  creation,  been  allotted  to  any  by  the 
Creator,  and  that  each  order  of  beings  was  formed  to  be 
wholly  mortal  or  immortal,  we  at  the  same  time  admit 
that  change  is  an  element  in  the  original  constitution  of 
things,  and  that  inferior  beings  were  made  to  be  mortal, 
though  not  to  suffer,  as  superior  were  to  be  immortal. 

Death  extends,  as  our  quotations  proved,  to  all  the  fallen 
race  of  man  ;  we  say  fallen,  for  our  Saviour  was  in  his 
human  nature  unfallen ;  he  "  knew  no  sin,"  and  of  course 
was  not  naturally  subject  to  death,  although  he  voluntarily 
subjected  himself  to  it,  "  that  through  death  he  might  de- 
stroy him  that  had  the  power  of  death."  Nor  does  the 
translation  of  Enoch  and  Elijah  conflict  with  these  views 
of  the  cause  and  universality  of  death  ;  for  the  fact  of  their 
translation,  notwithstanding  they  were  fallen  beings,  proves 
that,  had  man  remained  unfallen,  he  would  not  have  died, 
since,  if  God  revoked  the  sentence  of  death  already  passed 
upon  two  fallen  men,  he  surely  would  not  have  pronounced 
it  upon  man  unfallen,  and  consequently  more  holy. 
"  Death,"  then,  has  "  reigned  by  one,"  as  "  the  king  of  ter- 
rors," in  every  age  and  clime,  and  will  reign  until  "the 
last  trump."  Nor  will  the  millennial  state  form  an  excep- 
tion, however  much  the  salutary  influence  of  Christian 
principles,  the  extension  of  physiological  knowledge,  and, 
above  all,  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  may  contribute  to  make 
"  the  days  of  my  people  as  the  days  of  a  tree."  Not  until 
the  final  resurrection  will  the  prediction  of  the  last  and 
great  prophet  of  the  Lord  be  fulfilled,  that  "  there  shall  be 
no  more  death." 

The  whole  earth,  therefore,  is  the  empire,  and  time  the 
duration,  of  the  reign  of  death.  Yes,  the  world  is  the 
great  charnel-house  of  generations  of  ages,  and  every  wind 
of  heaven  wafts  the  cries  of  orphans,  the  moans  of  widows, 
the  sighs  of  the  distressed,  the  groans  of  the  dying,  and  the 
19* 


442  THE  RESURRECTION.  [SER. 

weepings  and  wailings  around  the  biers  and  the  graves  of 
the  dead.  Thanks  be  unto  God,  there  is  not  only  a  limit 
to  the  continuance  of  these  heart-rending  agonies,  but, 
more,  the  dead  shall  live  again  ;  for  Christ,  who  "  by  the 
grace  of  God  tasted  death  for  every  man,"  is  "the  last 
Adam,  a  quickening  spirit."     "  Death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?" 

II.   The  termination  of  death. 

Under  this  division  we  include  \h%  fact  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, as  proved  by  the  Scriptures  and  by  eye-witnesses; 
its  nature  and  extent ;  the  mode  of  the  resurrection ;  the 
nature  of  the  resurrection  body ;  the  universality  of  the 
resurrection ;  its  time  ;  the  agency  by  which  it  is  effected ; 
and  its  consequences. 

1.  The  future  existence  of  the  body  was  taught  to  the 
antediluvians  when  "  Enoch  was  translated,  that  he  should 
not  see  death."  A  few  centuries  after  the  deluge,  Abra- 
ham, when  called  by  God  to  offer  his  beloved  son,  Isaac, 
as  a  sacrifice,  accounted  "  that  God  was  able  to  raise  him 
up,  even  from  the  dead ;  from  whence  also  he  received 
him  in  a  figure."  Job  exclaims,  "  I  know  that  my  Re- 
deemer liveth,  and  that  he  shall  stand  at  the  latter  day 
upon  the  earth :  and  though,  after  my  skin,  worms  destroy 
this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God."  David  says, 
"  My  flesh  shall  rest  in  hope  ;  for  . . .  neither  wilt  thou  suffer 
thine  Holy  One  to  see  corruption."  "  Women  received 
their  dead  raised  to  life  again :  and  others  were  tortured, 
not  accepting  deliverance  ;  that  they  might  obtain  a  better 
resurrection."  With  "  a  chariot  of  fire,  and  horses  of  fire 
. . .  Elijah  went  up  by  a  whirlwind  into  heaven."  Heaven 
opens  to  receive  the  whole  of  a  good  man.  Christ  raised 
the  only  son  of  a  widow  of  Nain,  the  only  daughter  of 
Jairus,  and  Lazarus,  from  death ;  and,  by  his  own  resur- 
rection, became  "the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept." 
"Many  bodies  of  the  saints  which  slept  arose,  and  came 
out  of  the  graves  after  his  resurrection,  and  went  into  the 
holy  city,  and  appeared  unto  many ;"  as  if  rushing  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  to  Christ,  their  resui-rection  and  life, 
eager  to  join  in  his  triumph  over  death,  to  ascend  with  him 
to  the  portals  of  heaven,  to  swell  the  shout  of  the  adoring 
heavenly  hosts,  as  on  the  celestial  battlements  they  saw 
the  glorified  personage  of  the  Son  of  God  reascend,  escorted 
by  the  noblest  of  the  redeemed,  while  heaven  resounded. 


XXX.]  THE   RESURRECTION.  443 

"  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates ;  and  be  ye  lift  up,  ye 
everlasting  doors ;  and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in." 

A  belief  in  the  future  existence  of  the  body  appears  not 
to  have  been  confined  anciently  to  those  who  basked  in  the 
direct  beams  of  revelation.  Astronomy  hung  around  the 
heavens  forms  of  the  deified.  It  was  reported  for  popular 
belief  that  Romulus  had  been  transferred  to  heaven. 

Two  circumstances  may  have  led  some  philosophers  to 
discard  the  resurrection :  one,  that  the  body  is  composed 
of  unintelligent  earthy  elements,  and  consequently  unwor- 
thy of  reanimation — an  inference  false,  because  it  regards 
the  body  aside  from  its  connection  with  the  soul,  and  over- 
looks the  complex  nature  of  man,  formed  to  be  immortal 
in  body  if  immortal  in  soul.  The  second  circumstance  is 
the  present  mortality  of  the  body.  The  denial  of  the 
resurrection  in  consequence  of  this  fact  is  unwarrantable, 
because  moral  considerations,  such  as  rendering  a  reward 
at  the  judgment  to  the  whole  man,  as  he  had  conducted  in 
this  life,  are  paramount  to  physical,  and,  of  course,  should 
prevail  over  them ;  and  these  seem  to  pledge  immortality 
to  the  whole  man. 

Passing  to  establish  the  resurrection  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, we  remark,  that  as  we  have  before  proved  that  death 
came  upon  men  as  an  effect  of  the  transgression  of  Adam, 
and  as  the  Scriptures  declare  "  that  Christ  died  for  our 
sins,"  it  follows  inevitably,  if  the  atonement  is  coextensive 
with  the  fall,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body  uncondi- 
tional— positions  so  plain  as  not  to  require  proof — it  fol- 
lows, we  say,  that  the  bodies  of  cdlivill  be  raised;  or,  in  the 
language  of  the  context,  "  As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  Again,  the  prophetic  pre- 
dictions that  Christ  should  rise  from  the  dead  are  very 
explicit:  "My  fiesh  shall  rest  in  hope... for  neither  wilt 
thou  suffer  thy  Holy  One  to  see  corruption."  "  When 
thou  shalt  make  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin  ...  he  shall  pro- 
long his  days."     "  In  the  third  day  he  will  raise  us  up." 

The  historical  evidence  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is 
overwhelming.  He  was  seen  eleven  times  at  least,  between 
his  resurrection  and  ascension.  The  four  evangelists  re- 
cord the  fact,  and  circumstances  attending  it.  Peter  boldly 
affirmed  it  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  to  thousands,  in  the 
very  city  and  near  the  very  time  of  its  occurrence,  and 


444  THE  RESURRECTION.  [SER. 

frequently  on  other  occasions.  "Women,  "  last  at  the  cross, 
first  at  the  sepulchre,"  shared  in  the  joy  of  beholding  their 
Saviour  risen.  Thomas  saw  and  believed,  James,  the 
eleven  apostles,  and  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once, 
saw  him  at  different  times.  Stephen  saw  "the  Son  of 
man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God."  Paul,  his  most 
learned  and  bitter  persecutor,  saw  and  acknowledged  his 
Lord,  robed  in  his  risen  glory.  Lastly,  when  all  the  other 
apostles,  and  thousands  of  other  saints,  had  sealed  their 
testimony  to  the  fact  of  our  Saviour's  resurrection  with 
their  blood,  John,  the  beloved  disciple,  after  the  lapse  of 
nearly  a  century  from  our  Saviour's  incarnation,  saw  him 
when  he  was  banished  to  the  solitary  Isle  of  Patmos  for 
his  testimony  to  the  verity  of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  and 
exulted  to  hear  him  say,  "  I  am  he  that  liveth,  and  was 
dead ;  and  behold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore,  amen  ;  and 
have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death."  Barnabas,  who,  ac- 
cording to  Eusebius,  was  one  of  the  seventy  disciples ; 
Clement  of  Rome,  another  fellow-laborer  of  the  apostle 
Paul ;  Ignatius  and  Polycarp,  cotemporaries  of  the  apostle 
John,  themselves  martyrs  for  proclaiming  the  resurrection ; 
besides  a  host  of  writers  and  martyrs  in  succeeding  centu- 
ries, not  to  mention  the  voice  and  faith  of  the  church,  all 
concur  to  place  beyond  a  doubt  the  fact  of  the  resurrection 
of  Christ.  Hence,  as  a  resurrection  from  the  dead  has 
actually  occurred  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  resur- 
rection of  mankind  in  general  is  thereby  rendered  pro- 
bable ;  yes,  almost  certain  ;  for  if  one  human  body  has 
been  raised  by  the  power  of  God,  why  will  he  not  raise 
others  ?  especially  as  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  first 
offending  pair,  our  race  are  mortal  in  consequence  of  their 
mere  physical  connection  with  them;  in  accordance  with 
the  universal  law  of  nature,  that  like  produces  its  like — 
from  mortals,  mortals  spring. 

2.  Of  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  resurrection,  we  affirm, 
that  it  consists  in  the  living  again  of  all  the  human  bodies 
that  shall  have  died,  from  Adam  down  to  the  blast  of  "  the 
last  trump,"  as  is  certain  from  the  context  and  other  por- 
tions of  the  word  of  God.  "  For  since  by  man  came  death, 
by  man  came  also  the  resurrection  of  the  dead."  "  Death 
is  swallowed  up  in  victory."  "  The  last  enemy  that  shall 
be  destroyed  is  death."    "  All  that  are  in  the  graves  . . .  shall 


XXX.]  THE  RESURRECTION.  445 

come  forth."  "  There  shall  be  a  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
both  of  the  just  and  unjust." 

Equally  certain  is  it  that  all  which  appropriately  and 
exclusively  belongs  to  any  human  body  at  it's  death  will 
rise  again ;  otherwise  the  resurrection  of  a  body  will  not 
be  coextensive  with  its  death;  and,  as  it  cannot  be  pre- 
tended that  a  part  only  of  the  body  became  mortal  by  the 
original  transgression,  and  as  it  will  be  admitted  that  the 
death  of  Christ,  which  procured  our  resurrection,  was  for 
our  whole  lapse,  it  follows  that  our  whole  body  will  live 
again.  This  is  also  morally  certain  from  the  resurrection 
of  the  entire  body  of  Christ,  which  "  saw  no  corruption ;" 
for  if  his  unfallen  natural  body  was  all  raised,  then,  as  he  is 
the  "  Saviour  of  the  body,"  ours  must  be  raised  "  like  unto 
his  glorious  body."    So  believed  the  sound  and  sainted  Fisk. 

This  view,  it  will  be  perceived,  is  at  variance  with 
the  theory  which  supposes  that  a  certain  part  only,  consti- 
tuting the  "identity,"  as  it  is  termed,  will  be  raised — a 
theory  which  denies  the  resurrection  of  that  part  of  the 
body  which  is  not  a  part  of  the  "  identity."  Against  this 
theory  we  urge,  first,  the  fact  that  it  is  not  alluded  to  or 
countenanced  by  the  word  of  God ;  secondly,  that  it  is  not 
sustained  by  the  point  upon  which  it  must  mainly  rely, 
the  fact  that  not  all  of  a  seed  deposited  in  the  ground  re- 
appears in  the  new  plant;  for  neither  our  Saviour  nor 
Paul  has  indicated  that  an  analogy  on  this  point  exists 
between  vegetation  and  the  resurrection.  They  simply 
allude  to  the  general  analogy  between  the  reproduction  of 
grain  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body ;  but,  as  analogies 
are  usually  slight  resemblances,  a  perfect  and  minute  simi- 
larity is  not  to  be  expected.  Thirdly,  the  theory,  by 
denying  the  resurrection  of  a  part  of  the  body,  prepares 
the  way  for  the  infidelity  of  a  second  step — an  entire  de- 
nial of  the  resurrection.  This  leads,  as  shown  above,  to 
the  denial  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  thus  plunging  us 
into  the  darkest  depths  of  infidelity,  and  into  the  annihila- 
tion of  our  conscious  existence.  The  resurrection  of  the 
whole  body,  then,  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  must 
both  stand  or  both  fall. 

Does  any  suppose  that  the  soul  takes  upon  itself  a  spi- 
ritual body  at  or  after  death,  while  its  original  tenement 
still  lies  in  the  grave,  and  that  this  is  all  the  soul  will  ever 


446  THE    RESUKRECTION.  [SER. 

occupy  ?  He  denies  the  resurrection  ;  for  never,  then,  will 
"death  be  swallowed  up  in  victory."  Does  any  consider 
the  resurrection  to  be  of  minor  importance  ?  So  much  of 
Christ's  mission  he  undervalues.  Does  any  object  to  the 
resurrection  of  the  whole  body,  because  it  is,  when  alive, 
in  a  state  of  perpetual  change  ?  So  was  Adam's  before  he 
fell ;  so  was  our  Saviour's ;  but  the  resurrection  is  not  to 
affect  and  overcome  changes  not  caused  by  the  fall,  but 
death,  which  was  caused  by  it.  Is  it  pleaded  that  the 
body,  after  its  death,  assumes  mineral,  vegetable,  and  ani- 
mal forms  ?  True ;  yet  nothing  not  human  is  to  have  a 
resurrection,  and  cannot,  therefore,  in  the  least  prevent 
our  resurrection.  Besides,  if  we  even  suppose  the  resur- 
rection of  brutes,  the  less,  we  must  admit  that  of  men,  the 
greater.  Is  it  imagined  that  some  parts  of  human  bodies 
will  become  constituents  of  parts  of  other  human  bodies  ? 
It  may  be  so;  but  God  can  as  easily  assign  what  was 
originally  ajid  exclusively  its  own  to  each,  as  he  can  per- 
form any  other  act. 

These  are  all  the  objections  of  this  kind  that  can  be 
even  plausibly  urged ;  for  the  supposition  that  any  one 
human  body  will  be,  at  its  death,  wholly  composed  of  what 
belonged  to  another  at  its  death,  is  so  utterly  improbable, 
that,  if  we  were  not  to  believe  in  the  interposition  of  divine 
providence  to  prevent  its  occurrence,  it  could  not  be  urged 
as  even  a  slight  probability  against  the  resurrection  of 
every  human  body.  Thus  all  objections  are  swept  away ; 
and  what  to  one,  while  regarding  merely  physical  consider- 
ations, may  appear  at  first  sight  improbable,  will  be  found, 
from  its  metaphysical  and  religious  connections,  a  moral, 
and  almost  a  mathematical,  certainty. 

3.  We  pass  to  the  manner'  of  the  resurrection,  as  intro- 
duced in  the  context  by  the  interrogation,  "  How  are  the 
dead  raised  up?"  and  remark,  that  both  the  general  ac- 
ceptation of  the  interrogative  IIw^,  how,  and  the  argument 
based  upon  it  in  the  next  three  A'erses,  prove  that  it  refers 
to  the  "  modus  operandi,"  the  mode  or  manner  of  the  resur- 
rection ;  for,  as  our  Saviour  had  said  of  himself  before  his 
own  death,  and  in  allusion  to  it — "  Except  a  corn  of  v/heat 
fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone ;  but  if  it  die, 
it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit" — so  the  apostle  replies  to  the 
ignorant  objectoi*,  "  Fool,   that  which  thou  sowest  is  not 


XXX.]  THE  RESURRECTION.  447 

quickened  except  it  die,"  or,  is  not  made  alive,  if  it  may 
not  have  died.  Every  one  acquainted  with  vegetable 
physiology  must  know  that  the  germ  is  at  first  nourished 
by  the  decomposition  and  death  of  the  seed.  Here,  then, 
is  a  real  analogy,  not  for  the  germ  theory  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, which  maintains  that  a  part  of  the  body,  called  the 
germ,  never  dies ;  not  to  prove  that  the  resurrection  body 
will  die,  because  the  future  inferior  vegetable  will ;  but  to 
show,  that  as  vegetables  must  die  in  order  to  live  again, 
so  must  the  human  body.  The  apostle  gives  another  ana- 
logical illustration  in  the  next  verse.  As  he  had  just 
shown  that  in  vegetables  and  man  death  must  precede  a 
resuscitation,  so  he  now  shows  that  there  will  be  a  change 
in  vegetables  and  men  when  they  shall  be  revived,  by  sub- 
joining, "  And  that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that 
body  which  shall  be,"  or  the  body  which  it  shall  become, 
"  but  bare  grain  ;  it  may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some  other 
grain."  A  third  analogy  consists  in  the  fact  that  every 
resurrection,  whether  vegetable  or  human,  is  effected  solely 
by  the  power  of  God,  nature  having  no  power  of  herself, 
as  is  implied  in  the  next  verse:  "But  God  giveth  it  a 
body,  as  it  hath  pleased  him,  and  to  every  seed,"  or  to 
each  of  the  seeds,  "  his,"  or  its,  "  own  body."  Surely  if 
God  gives  a  resurrection  to  vegetables,  the  less,  he  will  to 
man,  the  greater. 

4.  We  are  now  prepared  for  the  second  interrogative 
objection,  "  With  what  body  do  they  come  ?"  or  the  nature 
of  the  resurrection  body.  Here,  too,  we  follow  the  apostle 
in  real  analogies,  where,  by  adducing  the  fact  that  sub- 
stances essentially  the  same  assume  different  aspects,  he 
prepares  the  way  for  a  belief  that  the  resurrection  body 
may  put  on  a  new  form  and  yet  remain  of  the  same  mate- 
rial. "■  All  flesh  is  not  the  same  flesh :  but  there  is  one 
kind  of  flesh  of  men,  another  flesh  of  beasts,  another  of 
fishes,  and  another  of  birds."  And  hence,  as  the  vegetable 
had  just  now  furnished  analogies  to  illustrate  the  mode  of 
the  resurrection,  so  now  the  animal  kingdom,  by  the  widely 
different  forms  of  flesh  in  man,  beast,  fish,  and  bird,  eluci- 
dates the  change  that  is  to  pass  upon  the  body  when  raised. 
Nor  is  this  all.  The  beings  that  people  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  converge  their  analogy  upon  the  same  point ;  for 
"  there  are  also  celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial ;  but 


448  THE  RESURRECTION.  [SEK. 

the  glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the  ter- 
restrial is  another."  Nay,  more;  the  apostle  adduces  a 
third  analogy  on  this  second  question,  as  he  had  on  the 
first,  by  declaring  that  "  there  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and 
another  glory  of  the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars: 
for  one  star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory,"  or  splen- 
dor. How  various  the  aspects  of  light !  Since,  then, 
matter  now  exists  in  so  many  forms,  the  human  body  may 
assume  a  second  form  when  raised. 

The  application  of  these  analogies  is  worthy  of  omnipo- 
tence, perfectly  adapted  to  the  noblest  desires  of  the  heart, 
and  in  exact  correspondence  with  the  ways  of  God,  which 
proceed  from  great  to  greater,  as  created  beings  can  fathom 
the  depths  of  divine  revelations.  But  hear  the  apostle 
apply  his  own  arguments :  "  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead.  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incor- 
ruption :  it  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glory :  it  is 
sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power :  it  is  sown  a  natu- 
ral body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body." 

Having  shown  that  natural  substances  are  susceptible 
of  an  endless  variety  of  modifications,  even  when  composed 
of  the  same  ultimate  elements,  the  apostle  proceeds  to 
prove  that  the  resurrection  body  will  be  a  spiritual  one ; 
or,  in  his  own  words,  "  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there 
is  a  spiritual  body."  This  position  he  sustains  by  adducing 
a  passage  from  Genesis  to  prove  the  original  constitution 
of  man :  ^'  And  so  it  is  written,  The  first  man  Adam  was 
made  a  living  soul ;"  though  formed  with  an  animal  nature, 
was  destined  for  immortality ;  "  the  last  Adam,"  or  Christ,  he 
adds,  "  was  made  a  quickening,"  or  life-producing,  "  spirit." 

Christ  will  therefore  make  the  body  of  man,  at  the  re- 
surrection, like  his  own,  a  spiritual  body.  We  are  not, 
however,  to  infer  that  the  resurrection  body  will  of  itself 
be  intelligent,  for  spirit,  as  well  as  matter,  exists  in  a  great 
variety  of  modes  of  being  ;  nor  is  intelligence  necessary  to 
every  mode  of  spiritual  existence,  as  the  cessation  of  con- 
sciousness, when  "  the  spirit  of  the  beast  goeth  downward 
to  the  earth,"  clearly  proves. 

The  apostle  corroborates  his  argument  by  implying, 
that  as  Christ  is  superior  to  Adam,  so  he  will  cause  our 
resurrection  bodies  to  surpass  their  original  state,  accord- 
ing to  the  progressive  order  which  God  has  established. 


XXX.]  THE  RESUREECTION.  449 

"  Howbeit  that  was  not  first  which  was  spiritual,  but  that 
which  is  natural ;  and  afterward  that  which  is  spiritual. 
The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  the  second  man  is 
the  Lord  from  heaven,"  where  all  is  spiritual.  "  As  is  the 
earthy,"  Adam,  "  such  are  they  also  that  are  earthy,"  his 
descendants :  "  and  as  is  the  heavenly,"  Christ,  "  such  are 
they  also  that  are  heavenly,"  "  the  children  of  God,  being 
children  of  the  resurrection."  "And  as  we  have  borne 
the  image  of  the  earthy,"  Adam,  "  we  shall  also  bear  the 
image  of  the  heavenly,"  Christ.  Yes,  the  body  shall  par- 
ticipate in  the  affections  of  the  soul  in  heaven,  as  it  had 
on  the  earth.  "  For  our  conversation  is  in  heaven ;  from 
whence  we  look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ; 
who  shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned 
like  unto  his  glorious  body."  "  We  know  that,  when  he 
shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him."  Our  bodies  will  as- 
sume a  new  state  at  the  resurrection,  and  at  the  same  time 
consist  of  the  same  elements  that  they  do  now.  Job  refers 
to  this  when  in  the  depths  of  affliction  he  exclaims,  "  In 
my  flesh  shall  I  see  God  . . .  though  my  reins  be  consumed 
within  me  ;"  and  Paul  declares  "  that  flesh  and  blood," 
the  body  in  its  present  state,  "  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God ;  neither  doth  corruption  inherit  incorruption." 

5.  The  change  will  be  universal.  "  We  shall  all  be 
changed ;"  that  is,  all  who  have  not  been  previously  raised 
from  the  dead,  whether  they  have  died,  or  are  alive  at  the 
resurrection,  will  be  changed,  good  and  bad,  for  there  will 
be  a  resurrection  of  the  "unjust"  as  well  as  of  the  "just," 
"  and  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth 
shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame 
and  everlasting  contempt." 

We  should  not  conclude  that  none  will  have  been  finally 
raised  before  this  general  resurrection.  Enoch  and  Elijah 
have  been  translated  ;  our  Saviour  has  ascended,  accom- 
panied, perhaps,  by  "many  bodies  of  the  saints  which 
slept,  arose,  and  came  out  of  the  graves  after  his  resurrec- 
tion." Moses  as  well  as  Elias  may  have  appeared  in  a 
glorified  body  when  Christ  "was  transfigured,"  for  they 
"  appeared  in  glory,"  and  the  whole  transaction  is,  as  ap- 
pears from  its  circumstances  and  connection,  typical  of  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  or  heavenly  state  of  the  risen 
righteous.     In  consonance  with  these  partial  resurrections, 


450  THE  RESURRECTION.  [SER. 

at  very  important  periods  in  the  history  of  the  church,  we 
are,  on  the  whole,  inchned  to  the  opinion  that  there  will 
be  a  resurrection  of  martyrs  at  the  commencement  of  the 
millennium,  because  the  phrase,  "  they  lived  and  reigned 
with  Christ  a  thousand  years,"  is  directly  contrasted  with 
the  declaration  that  "  the  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again 
until  the  thousand  years  were  finished ;"  and  as  the  latter 
quotation  must  be  taken  in  a  literal  acceptation,  so  must 
the  former.  To  this  "  first  resurrection "  Paul,  with  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  before  him,  may  refer,  when  he  de- 
sires to  "  know  the  power  of  Christ's  resurrection,  and  the 
fellowship  of  his  suflferings,  being  made  conformable  unto 
his  death  ;  if  by  any  means  he  might  attain  unto  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,"  oy  from  the  dead. 

The  general  change  will  be  instantaneous — "  in  a  mo- 
ment, in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye."  Of  the  origin  of  the 
universe  it  is  recorded,  "  God  spake,  and  it  was  done  ;"  so, 
at  this  universal  renovation  of  the  bodies  of  men,  of  the 
heavens,  and  of  the  earth,  the  Almighty  will  renew  at 
once,  thereby,  as  at  creation,  demonstrating  most  strongly 
his  omnipotence. 

6.  The  time  of  the  resurrection  will  be  "  at  the  last 
trump,"  when,  in  the  language  of  the  Apocalypse,  it  will 
be  declared,  "Thy  wrath  is  come,  and  the  time  of  the 
dead,  that  they  should  be  judged,  and  that  thou  shouldest 
give  reward  unto  thy  servants  the  prophets,  and  to  the 
saints,  and  them  that  fear  thy  name,  small  and  great ;  and 
shouldest  destroy  them  which  destroy  the  earth." 

7.  The  agent  by  which  the  resurrection  is  to  be  effected 
is  the  Holy  Spirit,  operating  through  the  atonement  of 
Christ,  which  procures  his  agency, — "  But  if  the  Spirit  of 
Him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  you,  he 
that  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken 
your  mortal  bodies  by  his  Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you." 
"  It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth," — although,  as  at  crea- 
tion, so  in  the  resurrection,  each  person  in  the  trinity  is 
often  spoken  of  as  an  agent. 

8.  Lastly,  we  approach  the  consequences,  the  renovation 
of  heaven,  earth,  man ;  triumph  over  death ;  the  "  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  and  of  eternal  judgment ;"  the  aug- 
mentation of  happiness  to  the  righteous,  of  misery  to  the 
wicked ;  the  congregating  of  all  the  good  in  one  place,  of 


.vXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE   OF  EVIL.  451 

all  the  bad  in  another ;  the  eternal  shout  of  saints,  '  O, 
death,  where  thy  sting?  O  hades,  where  thy  victory?" 
Let  the  righteous  hold  on  his  way,  and  the  wicked 
beware. 


SERMON  XXXI. 

The  Appearance  of  Evil. 

BY   REV.   GEORGE   PECK,   D.  D., 

OF    THE    NEW-YORK    CONFERENCE. 

"  Abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil." — 1  Thess.  v,  22. 

The  general  tendency  of  the  human  mind  is  to  place 
too  high  an  estimate  upon  outward  appearances.  Hence 
outward  religion  comes  to  be  magnified  at  the  expense  of 
inward  holiness,  and  some  are  led  to  practice  great  auste- 
rities, and  to  affect  sanctimonious  airs,  when  there  is  but 
little  or  no  religious  principle  in  the  conscience,  or  love  of 
God  in  the  heart:  To  guard  against  a  merely  outward 
religion,  or  a  hypocritical  show  of  piety,  great  stress  is 
laid  in  the  Bible  upon  the  religion  of  the  heart,  and  all 
mere  formality  or  outward  morality  is  represented  as  abo- 
minable in  the  sight  of  God.  "  He  is  not  a  Jew  which  is 
one  outwardly,  and  circumcision  is  that  of  the  heart,  in 
the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter ;  whose  praise  is  not  of 
men,  but  of  God."  "  Neither  circumcision  nor  uncircum- 
cision  availeth  anything,  but  a  new  creature."  "  God  is  a 
spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth."  "  To  what  purpose  is  the  multitude 
of  your  sacrifices  unto  me  ?  saith  the  Lord :  I  am  full  of 
burnt-offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts  ;  and  I 
delight  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  lambs,  or  of  he- 
goats.  When  ye  come  to  appear  before  me,  who  hath 
required  this  at  your  hand,  to  tread  my  courts?  Bring 
no  more  vain  oblations:  incense  is  an  abomination  unto 
me  ;  the  new-moons  and  sabbaths,  the  calling  of  assem- 
blies, I  cannot  away  with ;  it  is  iniquity,  even  the  solemn 
meeting."  Isa.  i,  11-13. 

These  and  similar  pasoages  place  so  much  stress  upon 


452  THE  APPEARANCE  OF  EVIL.  [SEB. 

the  state  of  the  heart,  and  so  pointedly  discard  mere  form- 
alism, that  a  class  of  minds  are  driven  to  the  opposite 
extreme.  If  they  do  not  wholly  discard  outward  religion, 
they  at  least  underrate  it,  and,  by  the  same  process  of 
reasoning,  become  blind  to  the  appearances  of  evil.  The 
doctrine  which  they  maintain  is,  that  appearances  are 
nothing — it  is  with  the  heart  that  God  has  to  do. 

The  object  of  the  apostle  in  the  text  is  to  give  appear- 
ances their  real  importance.  He  consequently  connects  a 
precept  upon  the  subject  with  several  other  injunctions, 
all  of  which  relate  to  inward  and  practical  godliness,  and 
follows  it  with  a  prayer  for  the  entire  sanctification  of 
those  whom  he  addresses,  in  a  way  to  show  most  clearly 
and  conclusively  that  abstinence  from  "  all  appearance  of 
evil "  is  a  necessary  accompaniment,  or  an  essential  attri- 
bute, of  an  entirely  sanctified  state.  With  these  remarks 
upon  the  general  aspects  and  real  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject presented  in  the  text,  I  shall  proceed  to  illustrate  and 
apply  it :  in  doing  which,  I  shall  first  explain  the  import 
of  the  precept  in  the  text,  and,  secondly,  show  its  real  im- 
portance. 

I.  Tlie  first  thing,  then,  which  I  propose,  is  to  explain 
the  import  of  the  precept :  "  Abstain  from  all  appearance 
of  evil." 

Moral  evil  itself  is,  in  many  ways,  interdicted  in  the 
Scriptures.  In  the  text  before  us,  however,  it  is  not  moral 
evil  itself,  but  its  appearance — zldovq,  image,  shape,  or 
form — that  we  are  admonished  to  abstain  from.  This  is 
the  view  of  the  text  most  generally  adopted  by  commenta- 
tors, and  the  one  we  think  the  best  sustained,  though  some 
critics  give  it  another  turn.  But,  as  I  have  no  time  for 
verbal  criticism,  I  shall  not  enter  into  the  argument. 

There  may  be  the  appearance,  or  image,  of  evil,  where 
no  evil  is  intended,  and  where  there  is  no  evil  in  fact,  fur- 
ther than  the  mere  appearance  is  itself  evil.  This  may 
exhibit  itself, 

1.  In  our  actions. 

Several  instances  will  now  be  given  which  may  stand 
for  the  whole.  In  our  intercourse  with  society  we  may 
aim  to  show  a  proper  regard  to  men  of  the  world,  and  as- 
sociate with  them,  for  their  improvement  or  for  our  own. 
Our  business  relations  may  seem  to  require  that  we  should 


XXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE   OF  EVIL.  453 

seek  the  company  of  such  as  are  essentially  worldly  in 
their  spirit,  and  we  may  think  to  exert  a  good  influence 
over  them :  while  these  associations  may  appear,  to  every 
one  else  besides  ourselves,  to  be  the  result  of  elective  affi- 
nity. Those  who  look  upon  us  may  honestly  suppose  that 
we  seek  the  company  of  worldly  minded  persons  because 
we  prefer  it — because  our  spirit  is  congenial  with  theirs. 
All  appearances  may  go  to  justify  this  conclusion,  and  we 
may  presume  men  generally  will  not  go  beyond  the  first 
and  plainest  indications  for  an  explanation  of  our  conduct. 

In  our  pursuits  we  may  seem  to  ourselves  to  be  merely 
"  diligent  in  business  " — only  to  pay  a  laudable  and  proper 
attention  to  our  temporal  interests:  while  our  zeal  and 
energy  in  the  prosecution  of  our  worldly  plans  and  enter- 
prises may  seem  to  contravene  the  Saviour's  prohibition 
of  taking  thought  for  the  morrow,  and  laying  up  treasure 
upon  earth ;  our  whole  course  of  conduct  may  indicate  that 
we  are  principally,  if  not  wholly,  concerned  for  the  things 
which  perish  with  the  using. 

In  our  dress  and  equipage  we  may  merely  intend  to 
conform  to  the  world  in  things  indifferent,  or  seek  our  own 
convenience  and  comfort  to  an  allowable  extent :  while 
those  around  us  gather  that  we  think  more  of  gay  apparel 
and  elegant  furniture  and  fixtures  than  we  do  of  the  orna- 
ment of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  in  the  sight  of  God 
is  of  great  price. 

In  our  contributions  to  public  or  charitable  objects,  or 
in  our  expenditures,  we  may  seem  to  ourselves  to  be 
merely  liberal,  and  to  avoid  parsimony :  but  we  may  ap- 
pear to  others  prodigal. 

Finally.  In  our  bearing  toward  the  other  sex  we  may 
think  ourselves  merely  courteous,  when  to  others  we  ap- 
pear amorous.  Under  this  head  I  only  intend  to  embrace 
the  more  slight  deviations  from  what  would,  by  a  correct 
taste,  be  considered  due  and  proper  reserve.  I  have  no 
reference  to  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  gossiping,  romp- 
ing, and  flirting  with  the  other  sex ;  much  less  do  I  refer 
to  those  whose  bearing  toward  the  other  sex  is  lascivious 
or  amorous.  Their  course  is  expressly  forbidden  in  the 
word  of  God,  and  their  character  is  not  to  be  mistaken. 
The  evil  is  not  merely  in  appearance,  it  is  in  the  heart, 
and  perverts  the  whole  soul.     But  persons  who  indulge  in 


454  THE  APPEARANCE   OF   EVIL.  [SER. 

these  practices  not  unfrequently  endeavor  to  keep  them- 
selves in  countenance  among  decent  and  religious  people 
by  saying,  "  I  mean  no  harm — I  am  of  an  ardent  tempera- 
ment— this  is  my  way."  Ah !  and  this  too  is  the  way  of 
the  rake  and  the  debauchee — and  it  is  also  the  way  to  hell! 
The  least  appearance  which  can  be  fairly  construed  into 
the  want  of  the  strictest  chastity  should  be  avoided. 

Or,  to  take  the  reverse  of  all  these  instances,  for  we 
are  not  merely  exposed  in  one  direction,  we  may  find  the 
danger  of  becoming  an  occasion  of  stumbling  to  others  by 
an  opposite  course  of  conduct. 

We  may  shun  worldly  society  for  the  purpose  of  avoid- 
iiig  its  contamination,  thinking  that  we  only  obey  the  in- 
junction to  "come  out"  from  the  world  "  and  be  separate:" 
when  we  seem  to  others  to  have  lost  all  sympathies  with 
men,  and  to  hold  them  at  an  undue  distance.  We  may 
seem  to  have  forgotten  our  social  relations,  and  our  obU- 
gations  growing  out  of  the  social  state — that  while  we  are 
required  to  scatter  our  light  abroad,  we  are  hiding  it  under 
a  bushel. 

We  may  design  merely  to  live  above  the  world,  and  to 
carry  out  our  Saviour's  injunction  to  take  no  thought  for 
the  morrow  :  while  we  may  seem  to  all  the  Avorld  to  be 
neglectful  of  our  business — to  be  idle,  and  criminally  negli- 
gent of  the  duties  and  obligations  imposed  upon  us  as 
citizens. 

Wliile  we  merely  intend  to  be  simple  and  plain  in  our 
dress  and  equipage,  it  may  seem  to  others  that  we  are 
making  religion  to  consist  too  much  in  plainness  and  sim- 
plicity of  apparel,  furniture,  &c. 

We  may  think  ourselves  merely  economical — making 
laudable  efforts  to  acquire,  by  proper  diligence,  all  we 
consistently  can,  and  merely  saving  all  we  can,  or  keeping 
what  we  acquire  for  some  good  use :  but  others  may  sup- 
pose us  penurious  and  niggardly. 

Or,  finally,  Ave  may  suppose  ourselves  correct  in  our  con- 
duct and  bearing  toward  the  other  sex,  when  we  appear 
to  others  to  want  for  them  due  respect  and  consideration. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  present  business  to  determine  upon 
which  side  of  the  happy  medium  the  greatest  evil  lies,  but 
to  show  that  there  is  danger  upon  either  side  sufficiently 
threatening  to  call  for  the  greatest  vigilance.     One  may 


XXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE   OF   EVIL.  455 

be  more  exposed  in  one  direction,  and  another  in  another. 
Different  natural  constitutions  and  temperaments  are  ex- 
posed to  a  different  class  of  temptations  and  a  different 
class  of  offenses.  All  offenses  are  not  equally  flagrant, 
nor  are  all  tendencies  to  evil  equally  dangerous.  But  as 
the  smallest  offense  mars  the  Christian  character,  and  the 
least  appearance  of  evil  may  be  .injurious  in  many  ways,  it 
is  of  great  importance  that  we  should  all  be  well  instructed 
into  the  character  of  our  liabilities  to  err,  that  we  may  be 
thoroughly  fortified  against  every  species  of  danger. 

2.  The  appearance  of  evil  may  be  exhibited  in  our 
tvords. 

In  our  conversation  we  may  design  merely  to  be  free 
and  pleasant — it  may  be  our  object  to  render  ourselves 
agreeable  companions  and  friends,  by  furnishing  those 
with  whom  we  associate  with  a  little  entertainment  or 
innocent  amusement :  but  we  may  appear  to  others  to  be 
decidedly  tinfling — utterly  void  of  the  gravity  which  be- 
comes a  Christian. 

When  our  feelings  are  interested,  we  may  suppose  we 
only  speak  with  an  earnestness  which  becomes  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject — we  may  acquire  a  habit  of  speak- 
ing in  a  loud  tone  of  voice,  and  maintaining  what  we  con- 
ceive to  be  truth  and  justice  with  great,  but  still  with 
becoming,  vehemence :  when,  to  all  but  ourselves,  we 
appear  to  be  in  a  storm  of  passion. 

In  reproving  vice,  and  in  censuring  evil  actions,  we 
may  design  merely  to  call  things  by  their  proper  names. 
We  may  even  suppose  it  would  be  a  species  of  hypocrisy 
not  to  employ  strong  and  offensive  epithets  when  we  make 
mention  of  the  vices  or  corruptions  of  particular  individu- 
als or  classes  of  offenders.  But,  in  the  estimation  of 
others,  our  language  may  appear  discourteous,  uncivil, 
and,  indeed,  ab.solutely  insulting ;  and  may  be  supposed  to 
proceed  from  anger,  recklessness,  or  at  least  an  utter  want 
of  the  charity  which  "  hopetli  all  things." 

We  may  only  intend  to  use  plain  language  in  speaking 
of  delicate  subjects.  We  may  think  merely  to  avoid  an 
affectation  of  modesty,  by  using  old-fashioned  Anglo-Saxon 
words  upon  certain  occasions,  and  in  relation  to  certain 
subjects :  when  our  style  of  conversation  may  appear  to 
others  to  originate  from  an  unchaste  imagination,  and  to 


456  THE  APPEARANCE   OF  EVIL.  [SER. 

indicate  the  absence  of  that  purity  of  mind  and  character 
essential  to  Christianity. 

We  may  suppose  we  merely  fill  our  place  in  the  social 
circle,  and  converse,  when  in  company,  only  so  much  as  is 
profitable  and  interesting  to  others,  and  as,  considering 
our  circumstances,  they  ought  to  be  willing  to  hear :  while 
others  consider  us  opinionative  and  obtrusive,  if  not  an 
absolute  nuisance  in  every  social  circle.  To  them  we  may 
seem  to  be  vainly  puffed  up  with  high  notions  of  our  own 
wisdom,  and  utterly  destitute  of  that  modesty  and  humility 
which  are  always  more  ready  to  hear  than  be  heard — to 
learn  than  to  instruct  others. 

In  speaking  of  the  faults  of  absent  individuals,  we  may 
design  merely  to  condemn  the  wrong  itself,  or  to  warn 
others  of  approaching  evil,  which,  under  certain  limitations 
and  restrictions,  would  not  be  wrong.  But  we  may  appear 
to  others  to  be  dealing  in  slander — they  may  suppose  we 
design  to  give  publicity  to  what  we  relate  from  motives  of 
jealousy  or  hatred. 

These  are  specimens  of  the  modes  in  which  we  may 
"offend  in  word"  when  we  do  not  design  it,  and  when 
there  is  no  evil  in  our  words  or  conversation  except  in  the 
mere  appearance. 

3.  There  may  be  the  appearance  of  evil  in  our 
spirit. 

We  may,  as  we  suppose,  pursue  our  favorite  plans  only 
with  becoming  zeal ;  dreading  a  cold,  dead,  inactive  condi- 
tion of  mind,  we  may  fan  our  feelings  up  to  a  high  degree 
of  ardor — and  think  we  merely  meet  the  conditions  of  St. 
Paul's  rule,  that  "  it  is  good  to  be  zealously  affected  in  a 
good  thing :"  when  we  appear  to  others  to  be  hot-headed 
ultraists — always  under  the  influence  of  intemperate  zeal 
— and,  in  fact,  to  be  rank  fanatics. 

Our  aim  may  be  to  cultivate  a  true  elevation  of  spirit, 
which  is  above  mean  compliances — to  exhibit  the  true 
nobleness  and  dignity  of  an  enlightened  Christian  and  an 
honorable  man.  But  to  others  it  may  seem  that  we  have 
too  high  views  of  ourselves — that  we  are  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  haughty  spirit,  which  looks  down  upon  all  other 
men  as  of  an  inferior  grade. 

We  may  think  only  to  be  prompt,  ready,  persevering. 
But  we  may  seem  to  others  to  be  hasty,  rash,  and  obstinate. 


XXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE   OF   EVIL.  457 

And  here,  as  in  a  former  case,  we  may  notice  an  oppo- 
site class  of  faults  to  which  we  are  liable. 

We  may  only  study  to  be  sufficiently  dispassionate  and 
self-possessed — not  to  be  sensitive,  unduly  excited,  or  hur- 
ried on  by  an  intemperate  zeal :  when  to  others  we  appear 
to  be  stoical — as  cold  as  an  iceberg — destitute  of  all  the 
sympathies  of  humanity,  and  utterly  without  the  heart  of  a 
brother  or  a  friend. 

We  may  only  strive  to  be  of  an  humble  and  meek  spirit 
— to  avoid  all  the  hauteur  which  savors  so  much  of  self- 
esteem  and  contempt  of  others :  when,  to  the  critical  eye 
of  the  world,  we  may  appear  cowardly  and  mean-spirited 
— without  any  just  appreciation  of  our  powers  or  our 
rights ;  or,  if  not,  without  the  mental  strength  or  moral 
courage  to  take  our  proper  position  in  society,  and  to 
maintain  our  own  rights. 

And,  finally,  we  may  think  to  be  merely  dispassionate, 
deliberate,  and  sufficiently  careful  to  look  before  we  leap — 
not  to  be  hasty  in  spirit :  while  we  appear  to  be  the  veriest 
drones — always  behind  the  times — never  ready  for  an 
emergency  until  it  is  passed — in  short,  like  the  foolish  vir- 
gins, who,  when  they  came  to  the  door,  found  it  shut 
against  them. 

These  simple  illustrations  are  designed  to  show  that 
there  may  be  the  appearance  of  evil  where  there  is  no 
evil  in  the  intention,  and  where  there  may  be  no  evil  in 
reality  except  in  the  appearance.  I  do  not  mean  to  say, 
however,  that  where  there  is  the  appearance  of  evil  there 
may  be  no  real  evil  in  the  appearance ;  but,  that  there 
would  be  no  evil  in  fact  if  it  were  not  for  the  appearance 
of  it.  A  man  who  acts  in  ignorance,  or  under  some  unfor- 
tunate bias,  may  go  astray  exceedingly,  and  his  conduct 
be  the  cause  of  much  mischief  to  himself  and  others,  and 
yet  his  intentions  may  have  been  pure.  And  in  this  case 
the  whole  course  of  conduct  might  have  been  right  and 
proper  if  he  were  a  solitary  being  in  the  universe,  or  if 
there  were  not  ignorant,  weak,  prejudiced,  and  wicked 
men  around  him  to  take  impressions  from  his  example. 
These  remarks  are  designed  merely  for  necessary  present 
explanation;  they  will  be  resumed  and  expanded  here- 
after. 

I  come  now  to  the  next  general  proposition. 
20 


458  THE  APPEARANCE   OF  EVIL.  [SER- 

II.  I  proceed  to  assign  reasons  for  this  precept. 

1.  There  are  reasons  which  affect  ourselves. 

Falling  into  evil  appearances  generally  results  from  the 
want  of  a  correct  taste,  a  well-disciplined  conscience,  or 
of  knowledge,  or  due  care  and  watchfulness.  These  are 
all  defects,  which,  if  they  are  not  remedied,  will  grow  and 
ripen  into  habits  which  will  mar  and  ruin  the  Christian 
character.  It  may  fairly  be  doubted  whether  any  Chris- 
tian can  be  blmd  to  the  aspects  of  his  own  character,  or 
careless  of  the  impressions  which  he  makes  upon  others, 
without  soon  becoming  perverted  in  his  moral  feelings, 
and  losing  both  the  love  and  the  fear  of  God. 

Again  :  if  an  assurance  that  our  position  before  the 
w^orld  is  such  as  makes  the  right  impression,  and  does 
honor  to  our  Christian  profession  and  character,  is  a  source 
of  happiness,  then  inattention  to  appearances  must  occasion 
a  diminution  of  our  religious  enjoyment.  We  conse- 
quently have  a  reason,  from  the  consideration  of  our  own 
enjoyment,  for  a  due  regard  to  the  injunction  of  the  text. 

But,  finally,  our  usefulness  is  intimately  concerned  in 
the  due  observance  of  the  precept  in  the  text.  Our  use- 
fulness depends  upon  our  influence,  and  our  influence  upon 
the  impression  we  make  upon  the  public  mind.  It  should 
be  well  considered,  that  it  is  the  appeai'ance,  the  image, 
the  form,  that  makes  the  impression.  All  the  data  which 
men  have  upon  which  to  make  up  an  opinion  of  our  cha- 
racter is  derived  from  appearances.  They  only  judge  of 
our  motives  from  appearances.  Motives  are  in  themselves 
intangible — they  are  only  known  by  outward  indications. 
And  when  men  see  in  uS — in  our  actions,  in  our  words,  or 
in  our  spirit  and  temper — the  appearance  of  evil,  they 
most  generally  conclude  that  real  evil  is  there.  We  may 
justify  or  extenuate  our  conduct  on  the  ground  that  we 
mean  no  harm — that  our  motives  are  right ;  but  how  is 
the  world  to  know  anything  about  our  motives  only  as 
appearances  develop  them  ?  The  essence  of  sin  is  not 
visible — it  is  only  by  its  indications  or  appearances  that 
men  recognize  its  existence  in  others — the  appearance  is 
all  that  is  visible.  Hence  it  is  clear  that  in  proportion  as 
the  ^'■appearance  of  evil"  mars  our  exterior  religious  cha- 
racter, we  lay  a  foundation  for  the  inference  that  there  is 
evU  within  us — that  we  are  not  worthy  professors  of  Chris- 


XXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE   OF  EVIL.  459 

tianity.  And,  as  a  matter  of  course,  this  conclusion,  in 
the  same  proportion  in  which  it  is  justified  by  the  indica- 
tions which  go,  in  the  view  of  the  world,  to  make  up  our 
religious  character,  will  injure  our  influence  and  lessen 
our  moral  power.  As,  then,  we  would  be  useful — as,  to 
some  extent,  our  own  person^fl  interests,  both  in  this  world 
and  the  world  to  come,  depend  upon  our  usefulness — it 
becomes  us  to  avoid  anything  which  would  draw  our  reli- 
gious character  into  doubt,  and  so  necessarily  abridge  our 
usefulness. 

From  the  whole  we  conclude,  that  we  have  reasons 
derived  from  our  own  highest  interests  to  abstain  from  all 
aj)pearance  of  evil. 

2.  A  due  regard  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  God  will 
furnish  us  with  another  argument  in  favor  of  the  duty 
enjoined  in  the  text. 

It  will  not  be  questioned  but  that  we  honor  God  in 
proportion  as  we  exhibit  a  practical  illustration  of  the  pu- 
rity of  the  Christian  character  before  the  world.  All  eyes 
are  upon  us,  and  all  have  a  right  to  expect  that  we  will 
carry  out  the  precepts  of  Christ  in  our  conduct,  conversa- 
tion, and  spirit;  and  the  ungodly  will  associate  the  ble- 
mishes which  appear  in  our  lives  with  the  religion  we 
profess.  In  vain  shall  we  protest  against  this;  in  vain 
will  we  attempt  to  make  men  see  the  difference  between 
the  lives  of  professing  Christians  and  Christianity  itself. 
Though  there  is  such  a  difference,  and  one  which  all  ought 
to  see  and  acknowledge,  yet  the  fact  that  many  will  not 
see  and  acknowledge  it  is  a  strong  reason  why  professing 
Christians  should  live  "  as  becometh  the  gospel  of  Christ." 
We  should  give  no  occasion  to  "  the  enemies  of  the  Lord 
to  blaspheme,"  or  by  our  errors  '•'  cause  the  way  of  truth 
to  be  evil  spoken  of ;"  but  should,  by  our  "  chaste  conver- 
sation, put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men."  If 
sinners  will  dishonor  God  and  reproach  his  cause,  let  them 
do  it  of  mere  malice,  without  the  least  provocation  on  our 
part.  They  may  censure  us  and  misconstrue  our  motives 
without  any  just  occasion — where  there  is  not  even  the 
smallest  appearance  of  evil.  If  they  do  this,  the  responsi- 
bility is  wholly  their  own.  But  if  there  is  in  our  lives 
the  appearance  of  evil,  though  it  is  no  good  ground  of 
justification  for  those   who  make  it  an  occasion  of  con- 


460  THE  APPEARANCE  OF  EVIL.  [SER. 

temning  Christ  and  his  gospel,  yet  it  does  involve  us  in  a 
tremendous  responsibility.  It  is  possible,  but  for  the 
temptation  which  our  conduct  furnishes,  the  corruptions 
of  their  hearts  might  not  break  out  so  violently,  or  might 
take  a  less  offensive  direction.  A  slight  appearance  of 
evil  in  us  may  be  the  spark*  which,  falling  into  the  maga- 
zine, causes  a  fearful  explosion. 

The  honor  and  glory  of  God,  then,  furnish  a  reason  of 
vast  importance  and  weight  in  favor  of  our  abstaining  from 
all  appearance  of  evil. 

3.  A  regard  to  the  well-being  of  other  men  furnishes  a 
strong  reason  for  the  requirement  of  the  text. 

In  discussing  this  point  it  may  first  be  premised,  that 
all  example  consists  in  appearances.  We  do  not  see  into 
men's  hearts — we  cannot  see  their  thoughts,  their  motives, 
nor  their  intentions.  It  is  the  outward  expression  or  sym- 
bol which  we  see.  And  we  judge  of  what  is  within  upon 
certain  established  principles,  which  indicate  a  connection 
between  certain  classes  of  signs,  or  actions,  and  certain 
classes  of  principles,  or  moral  qualities  of  the  heart.  It  is 
consequently  through  the  medium  of  the  sign  or  symbol 
of  wrong  that  the  contagion  of  sin  spreads.  It  is  the  sign, 
then,  that  makes  the  impression.  It  is  the  appearance  of 
evil  that  does  the  mischief,  so  far  as  sin  is  propagated  by 
example.  Suppose  then  two  cases,  equally  strong  and 
striking,  in  which  there  is  the  appearance  of  evil.  In  one 
of  these  cases  the  failure  is  the  consequence  of  ignorance, 
bad  taste,  or  some  constitutional  defect,  and  not  of  design ; 
in  the  other  case  the  same  actions  are  the  result  of  wicked 
principles  or  purposes.  Now  what  will  be  the  difference 
as  to  the  impression  which  these  two  instances  make  upon 
other  minds?  The  appearances  are  the  same,  and  the 
principles  upon  which  the  judgment  is  made  up  are  the 
same.  What,  then,  will  prevent  the  impression  from  being 
equally  bad?  What  will  hinder  the  ignorance,  or  care- 
lessness, or  mere  bad  taste,  of  the  one,  from  doing  as  much 
mischief  as  the  radical  wickedness  of  the  other  ? 

Let  us  not  hope  that  God  will  work  a  miracle  in  order 
to  render  harmless  the  signs  of  evil  which  are  not  the 
Tesult  of  design  or  malice  aforethought.  Miracles  are  not 
ordinarily  wrought  to  prevent  evils  which  might  be  pre- 
vented by  proper  Christian  prudence  and  discretion.     Our 


XXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE   OF  EVIL.  4Q1 

examples  will  go  on  making  their  natural  and  legitimat<$i 
impression,  without  the  least  abatement  of  the  evils  which 
they  inflict  on  account  of  the  innocent  motives  by  whicli 
we  may  have  been  actuated.  It  is  only  when  we  have 
used  all  our  diligence  and  discretion  to  the  best  advantage, 
and  acquired  a  habit  of  correct  judgment  and  due  discri^ 
mination  between  appearances,  and  we  have  labored  tA 
our  utmost  to  avoid  all  appearance  of  evil,  that  we  may 
confidently  hope  not  to  fall  into  any  indiscretion  which 
may  injure  the  spiritual  interests  of  others,  or  may  ration^ 
ally  expect  that  our  mistakes  will  be  so  overruled  by  God 
that  they  shall  do  no  harm. 

The  present  argument  derives  its  force  from  our  social 
relations,  and  the  fact  that  our  character  and  conduct  are 
constantly  exerting  an  influence,  and  making  impressions 
upon  other  minds,  either  for  good  or  evil.  "  No  one  liveth 
to  himself."  However  obscure  our  condition  in  life,  howr 
ever  small  the  circle  in  which  we  move,  we  are  constantly 
contributing  to  the  formation  of  the  character  and  habits 
of  others.  We  are  leaving  traces  upon  deathless  spirits 
that  we  are,  perhaps,  not  aware  of  holding  the  least  con- 
nection with,  or  of  being  in  the  least  degree  responsible 
for  the  characters  they  form  or  their  eternal  destiny. 

And  every  appearance  of  evil  which  is  marked  in  us  is 
a  kind  of  creation  that  is  never  to  be  annihilated — an  evil 
demon  sent  out  to  seduce  men  to  sin,  and  to  curse  them 
with  the  consequences  of  sin.  By  this  means  our  example 
may  be  doing  the  work  of  the  devil,  while  we  are  daily 
saying  our  prayers,  and  fondly  hoping  that  we  are  helping 
on  the  cause  of  God.  Let  us  not  forget  that  it  is  not  with 
our  motives  that  the  text  has  to  do;  it  is  with  "  the  appear- 
ance of  evil"' — that  by  which  evil  is  propagated — that 
which  makes  it  infectious; — it  is  the  appearance  which 
does  the  mischief  to  others. 

We  cannot  say,  "  I  am  not  responsible  for  consequences, 
so  long  as  I  mean  well— let  others  take  care  of  them- 
selves." One  of  old  once  asked,  "  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  ?"  We  live  for  others,  yea,  for  the  world,  and  not 
for  ourselves  alone.  And  we  will  be  held  to  a  strict  ac- 
countability for  the  influence  we  exert  upon  the  moral 
character  and  condition  of  those  around  us.  Is  it  nothing 
to  us  that,  by  a  little  imprudence,  or  for  want  of  a  better 


462  THE   APPEARANCE   OF   EVIL.  [SER. 

understanding  of  the  proprieties  of  the  Christian  character, 
we  actually  shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven  against  men  ? 
Is  it  nothing  to  us  that,  by  our  want  of  Christian  vigilance, 
and  thorough  mental  and  moral  discipline,  we  fall  into  so 
many  improprieties  in  our  behavior  as  to  strengthen  the 
corruptions  and  weaken  the  faith  of  those  with  whom  we 
hold  intercourse,  and  so  endanger  their  salvation  ?  Would 
it  not  be  a  fearfiil  thing  if,  for  the  want  of  thorough  self- 
knowledge,  and  a  perfect  acquaintance  with  the  proper 
adorning  of  a  Christian's  life,  we  should  be  the  means  of 
hindering  one  soul  in  the  way  to  heaven,  and  thereby  ren- 
dering the  final  salvation  of  that  soul  doubtful?  Is  it 
nothing  to  us  that  any  portion  of  our  influence  should  be 
upon  the  side  of  sin,  and  should  do  the  devil's  work? 
Never — no,  never  let  this  be  said  by  a  Christian — by  one 
whose  very  profession  binds  him  under  the  strongest  obU- 
gations  to  do  all  the  good  he  can — not  to  hinder  any  in 
their  religious  course,  but  by  all  possible  means  to  help 
on  all  in  the  way  to  heaven. 

We  occasionally  hear  persons  of  a  certain  class — and 
some  of  them  high  professors  of  religion  too — say,  "  I  don't 
care  what  people  say  about  me ;  I  just  do  what  is  right, 
and  that  is  all  I  care  for."  Don't  care  what  others  say 
about  you  ?  Well,  you  ought  to  care.  If  they  speak  evil 
of  you  from  malice,  or  a  persecuting  spirit,  they  involve 
themselves  in  a  damning  sin,  and  ought  to  be  pitied  and 
prayed  for.  But  if  the  cause  of  their  bad  opinion  and 
censures  is  to  be  traced  to  some  indiscretion  of  yours — to, 
at  least,  the  "  appearance  of  evil "  in  your  behavior — then 
you  have  a  real  and  a  serious  concern  in  the  matter.  If 
they  are  thus  led  to  sin,  you  have  furnished  them  with  the 
temptation,  or  occasion,  without  which,  possibly,  they  would 
not  have  fallen  into  the  evil ;  if  we,  by  any  fault  or  defect 
in  our  religious  character,  furnish  an  occasion  for  men  to 
sin,  we  are  fearfully  responsible,  and  we  ought  to  be  con- 
cerned, both  for  the  cause  and  its  results. 

Besides,  a  Christian  should  never  forget  that  he  consti- 
tutes a  part  and  parcel  of  the  church,  and  that,  by  conse- 
quence, his  fame  and  reputation  are  identified  with  those 
of  the  church.  If  his  character  is  disparaged,  the  church 
suffers — the  disgrace  of  his  failures  falls  upon  the  church. 
He  is  one  of  the  number  that  is  to  give  the  church  her 


XXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE  OF  EVIL.  463 

character  and  influence ;  consequently,  if  he  is  in  bad  odor 
before  the  world,  in  the  same  proportion  the  church  suffers 
disparagement.  And  when  the  church  is  defamed  and 
insulted — pierced  and  left  bleeding — has  he  no  care  for  it? 
Especially  when  he  has  furnished  the  occasion,  is  it  of  no 
concern  to  him,  that  the  worthy  Name  by  which  he  is 
called  is  blasphemed  ?  This  would  indeed  appear  strange 
and  unaccountable,  and  yet  such  instances  actually  occur. 
But  let  it  always  be  remarked,  that  they  are  not  the  most 
devoted  Christians — not  those  who  actually  live  above 
reproach — that  "don't  care  what  others  say  about  them." 
There  is  ground  of  suspicion  upon  the  very  face  of  this 
species  of  recklessness. 

If,  then,  our  moral  and  religious  example  is  of  any  con- 
sequence— if  it  is  a  matter  of  any  importance  that  we 
should  not  hinder  the  salvation  of  sinners,  nor  cause  the 
weak  to  stumble — if  it  is  a  thing  worthy  of  our  serious 
concern  that  we  should  not  furnish  men  with  an  occasion 
of  sin,  nor  cause  the  way  of  truth  to  be  evil  spoken  of,  it 
is  of  great  concern  to  us  that  we  should  "  abstain  from  all 
appearance  of  evil ;"  and  we  have  an  interest  in  this  pre- 
cept as  high  as  heaven  and  as  lasting  as  eternity.  Who, 
then,  that  wishes  to  do  all  the  good  he  can  to  his  fellow- 
creatures — so  far  as  within  him  lies  to  contribute  to  their 
conversion  and  salvation — will  be  inattentive  to  this  fear- 
fully momentous  precept  ? 

I  have  now  briefly  presented  three  reasons  for  the  in- 
junction contained  in  the  text.  These  reasons  are  such 
as  go  to  show  the  vast  importance  of  this  injunction. 
Hoping  that  I  have  succeeded  in  producing  conviction  in 
the  minds  of  all  the  serious  persons  I  address  that  the  text 
sets  forth  a  necessary  duty — one  vital  to  the  interests  of 
our  holy  Christianity — one  applicable  to  all  persons,  times, 
places,  and  circumstances,  and  one  which  is  sadly  forgotten 
and  neglected  by  many  who  profess  to  be  the  disciples  of 
Christ ;  what  remains  is  to  draw  a  few  practical  inferences 
from  the  whole. 

1.  The  first  inference  which  we  draw  from  the  doctrine 
of  the  text  is,  that  appearances  are  matters  of  high  im- 
portance. 

This  point  has  been  already  so  largely  illustrated  and 
insisted  upon,  that  little  need  be  added  here.     The  deduc- 


464  THE   APPEARANCE   OF   EVIL.  [SER. 

tion  is  obvious  from  all  that  has  been  said,  and  I  now 
make  it  merely  to  give  it  a  formal  place  among  the  prac- 
tical conclusions  of  the  discourse.  So  prone  is  the  human 
mind  to  extremes,  that  it  is  not  unfrequent  for  a  mere 
dread  of  formalism,  and  a  high  regard  for  the  religion  of 
the  heart,  to  lead  to  a  melancholy  neglect  of  appearances, 
and  to  a  looseness,  or  at  least  a  carelessness,  in  relation  to 
the  decencies  and  proprieties  of  the  Christian  character. 
Many  there  are  among  us  who  need  correction,  and  there 
are  few  but  may  profit  by  an  admonition.  A  great  and 
good  man  says :  "  He  that  neglects  little  things  shall  fall 
by  little  and  little."  And  we  may  certainly  calculate  that 
he  who  does  not  abstain  from  the  appearance  of  evil  will 
soon  fall  into  open  transgression. 

2.  We  may  next  infer  the  reason  why  so  many  honest- 
minded  people  are  so  utterly  worthless  as  members  of  the 
church. 

The  reason  why  persons  who  mean  well,  and  have  a 
great  degree  of  zeal  in  the  cause  of  religion,  are  so  often 
useless  lumber  in  the  church,  and  even  sometimes  stum- 
bling blocks  in  the  way  of  sinners,  not  unfrequently  is, 
that  they  think  too  little  of  appearances.  The  general 
aspects  of  their  character  are  such  as  to  neutralize  all  their 
efibrts  for  good.  They  pull  down  with  one  hand  all  that 
they  build  with  the  other,  and  often  go  much  further — 
even  destroying  the  good  done  by  others.  They  are  not 
open  sinners,  nor  do  they  designedly  omit  any  duty ;  but 
they  are  headlong,  or  thoughtless,  or  ignorant,  or  obsti- 
nate. And  through  some  of  these  causes,  or  something  of 
the  same  class,  they  give  offense  to  susceptible  minds — 
they  absolutely  make  religion  appear  offensive,  and  so 
create  against  it  an  abiding  prejudice.  There  are  persons 
around  them  without  religion  who  have  a  far  more  discri- 
minating judgment,  more  enlightened  views,  and  a  better 
taste,  as  to  the  aspects  of  a  Christian  man's  behavior,  than 
they  have.  Such  are  disgusted  and  offended  with  them 
for  what  appears  to  be  wrong,  and  what  they  think  can 
hardly  spring  from  a  right  state  of  heart.  And  thus  they 
"  stumble  or  are  made  weak."  The  same  may  sometimes 
be  said  of  exceedingly  zealous  and  high  professors  of  reli- 
gion. They  have  much  zeal,  but  little  knowledge.  They 
do  not  seem  to  be  aware  that  a  fiery  zeal  without  proper 


XXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE   OF  EVIL.  46^ 

discretion  is  a  most  dangerous  element  in  a  man's  charac- 
ter. If  a  man  goes  wrong,  the  more  fiercely  he  drives  on^ 
the  worse.  I  have  sometimes  known  one  person  of  this 
class  to  destroy  the  most  flattering  prospects  of  a  revival 
of  God's  work — neutralize  all  that  the  minister,  aided  by 
the  whole  church,  could  do,  and  bring  everything  to  a 
stand.  Something  more  is  necessary  to  a  good  and  suc- 
cessful laborer  in  the  cause  of  God  than  good  intentions 
and  great  zeal.  He  that  would  win  souls  must  be  wise. 
And  he  that  would  be  a  profitable  laborer  in  any  depart- 
ment of  Christian  duty  must  abstain  from  all  appearance 
of  evil.  When  will  these  mistaken  brethren  learn  that 
the  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  them — ^that  men  take  im- 
pressions through  their  eyes  and  ears,  and  that  we  can 
have  no  power  for  good  in  the  church  only  so  far  as  our 
actions,  words,  and  spirit,  appear  in  accordance  with  our 
profession  ? 

3.  We  may  learn  the  importance  of  clear  discrimina- 
tion, an  accurate  judgment,  a  tender  conscience,  and  per- 
fect self-knowledge. 

These  qualities  of  mind  will  enable  us,  in  all  ordinary 
cases,  to  judge  correctly  as  to  what  would  be  proper,  or 
otherwise,  under  any  given  circumstances.  But  the  power 
of  correct  judgment  in  matters  of  so  much  difficulty  as  the 
bearing  of  mere  appearances  is  not  to  be  attained  at  once 
and  without  effort.  It  may  cost  us  much  painful  inquiry 
und  diligence.  The  power  of  accurate  judgment  is  not 
ordinarily  acquired  without  much  patient  thought  and 
observation.  He  that  would  have  this  faculty  in  its  vigor 
and  efficiency,  must  exercise  himself  in  judging  of  appear- 
ances in  view  of  the  great  ideal  of  a  perfect  man.  And 
he  must  scrutinize  his  own  ways.  He  must  not  spare 
himself  He  must  perpetually  inquire,  How  will  this  ap- 
pear, and  how  that?  What  judgment  will  other  men 
pronounce  upon  my  conduct  ?  How  will  it  impress  them  ? 
Will  it  make  them  better  or  worse  ?  Will  it  tend  to  draw 
them  to  the  Saviour,  or  to  drive  them  from  him  ?  This 
inquisitive  habit  of  mind  will  lead  to  the  most  beneficial 
results.  We  shall  acquire  the  power  of  analyzing  and 
comparing  appearances,  and  judging  of  them,  which  will 
save  us  from  many  errors  and  many  mortifying  failures,  and 
which  will  give  to  our  character  a  moral  beauty  which  will 
20* 


466  THE  APPEARANCE  OF  EVIL.  fSER. 

command  the  admiration  and  respect  even  of  the  most 
splenetic  and  fastidious  of  the  men  of  this  world  with  whom 
we  daily  converse. 

4.  "We  may  learn  the  greatness  of  our  responsibilities. 

It  is  not  a  difficult  matter  for  a  person  of  ordinary  spirit- 
ual illumination  to  be  able  to  determine  what  contravenes 
the  injunction  of  the  text,  and  when  he  is  by  it  convicted 
of  wrong.  Offenses  against  the  salutary  caution  it  con- 
tains, more  generally,  perhaps,  arise  from  some  negative 
quality  of  mind,  such  as  thoughtlessness  or  ignorance.  But 
due  care  and  diligence  would  supply  the  remedy  for  these 
deficiencies.  And  if  we  neglect  so  to  fashion  our  lives  as 
that  they  may  exert  a  saving  influence  upon  the.  world, 
are  we  not  slothful  servants?  Mark,  it  is  not  so  much 
some  sudden  outbreak  of  the  passions,  which  is  the  result 
of  surprise,  with  which  the  text  is  concerned,  as  it  is  an 
habitual  laxness  and  indifference  to  the  minutiae  of  Chris- 
tian duty — something  to  which  there  may  be  no  designed 
tendency,  but  which  results  from  false  or  defective  views 
of  the  Christian's  character  and  responsibilities.  And  if 
professors  of  religion  will  in  this  manner  fall  to  sleep  upon 
their  post — if  by  mere  sloth  they  will  peril  the  interests 
of  religion  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  will  they  not  have  a 
fearful  account  to  give?  Can  they  expect  in  the  great 
day  to  hear  the  Judge  say,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful 
servant?"  How  will  they  answer  for  the  mischief  which 
has  been  occasioned  by  their  criminal  indifference  to  a 
plain  precept  of  the  Bible  ?  O,  what  sobriety,  and  vigi- 
lance, and  prudence,  and  diligence,  are  necessary,  if  we 
would  fully  meet  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  text ! 

5.  We  may  also  infer  from  the  doctrine  of  the  text  that 
some  sincere  but  imperfect  Christians  may  be  the  means 
of  ruining  souls,  while  others,  of  less,  or  no,  real  purity  of 
purpose,  may  be  the  means  of  doing  much  good. 

Let  the  doctrine  which  has  already  been  clearly  deduced 
from  the  text,  and  which  is  sustained  by  sound  philosophy 
and  common  sense,  be  borne  in  mind,  namely :  that  it  is 
the  appearance  of  evil  which  does  the  mischief  to  society. 
Others  see  only  the  appearance  of  evil  in  any  case,  while 
God  alone  sees  the  thing  itself.  If,  then,  we  are  not  cau- 
tious to  abstain  from  the  appearance  of  evil,  and  so  are 
the  means  of  giving  a  wrong  bias  to  others,  or  are  the 


XXXI.]  THE  APPEARANCE  OF  EVIL.  467 

occasion  of  tlieir  falling  into  sin,  and  into  hell,  it  will  be 
sad  indeed.  It  will  not  answer  for  us  to  say  we  did  not 
design  to  do  harm — the  harm  is  done,  and  cannot  now  be 
repaired.  Our  general  honesty  of  purpose  will  not  pre- 
vent the  fatal  consequences  of  our  example,  much  less  will 
it  bring  back  from  perdition  the  souls  which  we  have  been 
the  means  of  ruining  for  ever.  So  with  all  our  honesty 
of  purpose,  with  all  our  zeal,  with  all  our  prayers ;  such 
may  be  our  course  of  living,  our  habits  of  intercourse  with 
the  world,  that  we  may  be  the  means  of  sending  souls  to 
destruction. 

Upon  the  other  hand,  some,  whose  motives  are,  in 
part  or  in  whole,  selfish  and  offensive  to  God,  may 
so  thoroughly  understand  the  art  of  making  the  right 
impression,  that  their  examples  may  be  practically 
beneficial,  and  they  may  be  the  means  of  saving  souls. 
They  abstain  from  the  appearance  of  evil,  although 
they  love  evil  itself,  and  cherish  it  in  their  hearts.  Ap- 
pearances will  not  indeed  save  them,  but  they  may  instru- 
mentally  save  others  ;  that  is,  the  signs  of  truth  and  purity 
which  they  display  may  be  the  means,  in  the  hands  of  God, 
of  bringing  men  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  of 
finally  saving  them.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  this  is  a 
merely  hypothetical  case,  which  never  can  actually  occur. 
I  doubt  not  but  there  are  now  good  and  worthy  members 
in  the  church,  and  glorified  saints  in  heaven,  who  were 
converted  by  the  instrumentahty  of  base  hypocrites.  Their 
corruptions  were  not  dormant,  but  were  working  in  a  way 
not  to  be  observed  by  the  persons  referred  to,  who  only  saw 
what  appeared  to  them  the  image  of  a  true  zeal  for  God 
and  his  glory.  All  they  saw  was  in  itself  good.  It  was  the 
expression,  the  shadowing  forth,  of  true  religion.  The 
outward  expressions  were  all  of  which  they  could  take 
cognizance,  and  being  such  as  found  a  response  in  their 
hearts  and  consciences,  they  were  made  the  means  of 
awakening  in  their  minds  permanent  convictions.  God, 
who  "  can  make  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him,"  can  as 
easily  make  his  selfishness,  and  all  the  other  motives  of 
hypocrisy,  to  promote  his  honor  and  the  salvation  of  sin- 
ners. But  it  must  not  be  supposed  from  this  that  the  good 
which  a  real  hypocrite  sometimes  does  either  procures  his 
pardon,  or  in  the  least  meliorates  his  moral  character.    He 


468  THE  APPEARANCE  OF  EVIL.  [SER. 

is  just  as  wicked,  before  God,  as  he  would  be  if  he  did  no 
good  at  all ;  and  will,  without  repentance,  have  just  as  hot 
a  place  in  perdition,  and  possibly  his  punishment  will  be 
enhanced  by  that  circumstance.  It  may  be  an  aggravation 
of  his  torment  in  hell  to  know  that  he  had  contributed  to 
the  salvation  of  others. 

But,  brethren,  what  a  shame  it  is  for  us  to  be  outdone 
by  hollow-hearted  professors  of  religion — by  the  unskill- 
fulness  of  our  labors,  or  the  defects  in  the  aspects  of  our 
outward  Christian  character,  actually  to  harm  the  cause 
and  ruin  souls,  while  really  bad  men  are  often  found  doing 
much  good !  The  very  supposition  of  the  possibility  of  all 
this  shows  the  real  importance  of  the  requirement  of  the 
text  in  a  very  strong  light.  O,  when  will  we  be  "  wise 
as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves?" — When  we  learn  to 
"  abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil." 

6.  Lastly,  we  infer  the  admirable  perfection  of  the  in- 
structions we  have  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Every  point  of  duty  seems  to  be  covered  by  the  sacred 
writers.  The  heart  is  the  great  source  of  evil — as  "from 
the  heart  proceedeth  evil  things" — and  consequently  the 
corruptions  of  the  heart  are  objects  of  special  attention. 

How  the  heart  is  to  be  cleansed  and  prepared  for  a 
residence  of  the  Holy  One,  and  by  what  means  it  is  to  be 
guided  and  governed,  are  matters  clearly  set  forth.  How 
to  govern  our  actions,  and  what  in  our  outward  conduct  is 
wrong  and  offensive  to  God,  are  sufficiently  specified.  Both 
inward  and  outward  sins  are  pointed  out  and  prohibited ; 
and,  finally,  as  if  to  complete  the  system  of  requirements 
and  duties,  we  are  admonished  to  shun  not  only  sin  itself, 
but  its  very  appearance.  Without  this  there  would  seem 
to  be  a  deficiency  in  the  inspired  teaching.  An  avenue 
would  have  been  left  open  for  the  entrance  of  evil,  and 
the  Christian  character  might  have  been  exceedingly  de- 
fective without  contravening  any  express  precept.  As  it 
is,  every  precaution  is  taken  to  fortify  us  against  occasions 
of  falling  into  sin,  or  of  exerting  a  bad  influence  upon 
others.  The  directions,  if  fully  carried  out,  will  completely 
furnish  us  for  the  high  and  responsible  position  to  which 
we  are  elevated  when  taken  into  the  favor  and  service  of 
God.  No  doubt  will  hang  over  our  character.  We  shall 
be  clear  specimens  of  practical  Christianity,  practical  de- 


XXXII.]  DOING   GOOD    UNTO   ALL   MEN.  469 

monstrations  of  the  purity  and  power  of  our  divine  reli- 
gion. And  what  Christian  does  not  wish  to  have  his 
character  and  conduct,  beyond  all  controversy  and  doubt, 
in  accordance  with  the  holy  gospel?  "What  good  man 
wishes  to  be  misunderstood  and  misconstrued — to  be 
thought  not  so  good  as  he  really  is,  or  at  least  aims  to  be  ? 
Who  wishes,  by  putting  himself  upon  dubious  ground  in 
the  view  of  others,  to  put  the  Christian  profession,  or  reli- 
gion itself,  upon  dubious  ground  ?  Who  would  not  be 
perfect — complete  in  all  the  will  of  God?  Here,  then, 
brethren,  is  our  great  rule  of  behavior — the  infallible  law 
of  propriety :  "  Abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil."  But 
observe  this  to  the  letter,  and  there  will  be  no  honest  doubt 
with  regard  to  our  real  position.  We  shall  then,  in  all 
ordinary  cases,  have  full  credit  for  all  the  honesty  and 
integrity  of  purpose  to  which  we  are  entitled.  We  shall 
'■'-  let  our  light  shine  before  men,  that  others,  beholding  our 
good  works,  may  glorify  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 
We  shall  honor  our  profession  before  the  world,  and  in 
the  great  day  of  judgment  God  will  honor  us  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  holy  angels.     Amen. 


SERMON  XXXn. 

The  Opportunity  of  doing  Good  unto  all  Men. 

BY  REV.  BISHOP  EDMUND  S.  JANES. 

"  As  we  have  therefore  opportunity,  let  us  do  good  unto  all  men." — 
Galatians  vi,  10. 

The  subject  presented  in  this  passage  of  Scripture  is 
that  of  doing  good  unto  others.  The  proper  objects  of  our 
kind  and  Christian  offices  are  declared  to  be  "  all  men ;" 
and  the  rule  laid  down  for  the  government  of  our  benevo- 
lent action  is  the  measure  of  our  "  opportunity."  Each 
of  these  branches  of  the  text  would  afford  a  delightful 
topic  of  remark.  The  theme  of  doing  good,  of  philanthro- 
pic and  Christian  enterprise,  is  one  of  thrilling  interest. 


470  DOING  GOOD   UNTO   ALL   MEN.  [SER. 

To  describe  the  luxury  of  this  employment  would  be  to 
relate  the  experience  of  angels,  and  express  the  highest 
pleasure  which  man  has  ever  felt.  No  intelligent  and 
holy  being,  either  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  ever  has  known, 
or  can  know,  any  higher  and  purer  enjoyments,  than  those 
which  arise  from  benevolent  exertions,  properly  directed 
and  successfully  prosecuted.  It  might  also  be  very  pleasing 
and  profitable  for  us  to  consider  the  claims  which  "  all  men" 
have  upon  our  charities  and  good  offices ;  and  also  the 
especial  obligations  we  are  under  to  do  good  "  unto  them 
who  are  of  the  household  of  faith."  But  the  design  of  the 
present  discourse  is  a  specific  one ;  namely,  to  show  that 
the  sabbath  school  furnishes  such  an  "opportunity"  as  the 
text  describes,  and  therefore  has  solemn  and  sacred  claims 
upon  the  sympathies,  services,  and  prayers,  of  all  Christian 
persons. 

Having  this  object  in  view  in  the  consideration  of  our 
text,  we  shall  not  enter  into  a  protracted  and  systematic 
discussion  of  the  various  inviting  topics  of  discourse  which 
it  presents,  but  only  notice  them  so  far  as  they  are  illus- 
trative of  the  subject  that  claims  our  present  attention.  In 
pursuance  of  this  plan  of  discourse,  I  observe — 

I.  Sabbath  schools  afford  an  "opportunity" 
TO  "do  good." 

To  estimate  and  exhibit  the  good  accomplished  by  these 
institutions  in  their  direct  and  indirect  bearings,  would 
require  a  more  comprehensive  mind  and  a  more  graphic 
pen  than  I  possess.  The  instruction  they  have  afforded, 
the  religious  influence  they  have  exerted,  the  crimes  they 
have  prevented,  and  the  virtue  and  piety  they  have'  in- 
duced and  cherished,  will  never  be  known  until  the  Lion 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah  shall  prevail  to  open,  in  the  light  of 
the  judgment  fires,  the  books  that  contain  a  true  and  entire 
record  of  all  the  affairs  of  this  world.  Then  shall  be  seen, 
and  appreciated  by  all,  the  surprisingly  great  and  grand 
results  of  their  operations.  But  these  institutions  are  so 
abundant  in  the  blessings  they  confer,  that  some  of  their 
good  effects  are  even  now  obvious. 

They  'prevent  much  sahhaih-hrealdng. 

The  awful  sin  of  directly  violating  the  explicit  command- 
ment of  Almighty  God  to  keep  holy  the  sabbath-day,  is 
alarmingly  prevalent  at  this  time  in  this  country.     The 


XXXIL]  DOING    GOOD   UNTO  ALL  MEN.  471 

authority  of  Heaven,  the  institutions  of  religion,  and  the 
statutes  of  the  land,  are  insufficient  to  restrain  multitudes 
of  adult  persons  from  wickedly  desecrating  the  sabbath  of 
God.  And  while  our  state  and  national  improvements, 
our  increasing  facilities  for  traveling  and  transportation, 
our  steamboats,  railroads,  and  canals,  are  all  perverted 
from  their  lawful  uses  to  the  unholy  pleasures  or  sinful 
gains  of  sabbath-breaking,  it  is  truly  relieving  to  the  op- 
pressed and  grieved  feelings  of  the  Christian  to  reflect, 
that,  through  the  instrumentality  of  sabbath  schools,  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  children  are  wholly  or  partially 
restrained  from  this  dreadful  sin  and  its  attendant  evils 
and  dangers.  Thus,  by  preventing  juvenile  sabbath-break- 
ing, and  filling  so  many  youthful  minds  with  a  reverence 
for  God's  holy  sabbaths,  much  good,  much  immediate  and 
apparent  good,  is  accomplished.  I  believe  this  to  have 
been  one  of  the  primary  objects  of  the  immortal  founder 
of  these  institutions.  Judging  from  Mr.  Wesley's  Journal 
and  other  evidences,  I  believe  this  to  have  been  one  of  the 
very  iirst  benefits  for  which  the  early  friends  of  sabbath 
schools  labored.  But  I  fear  this  is  not  enough  thought  of 
or  aimed  at  by  many  of  the  teachers  and  patrons  of  these 
schools  in  modern  times. 

I  cannot  conscientiously  suffer  this  opportunity  to  pass 
without  solemnly  protesting  against  a  practice  in  some 
places  of  dismissing  their  schools,  and  giving  the  children 
liberty  either  to  go  into  the  church  or  to  disperse  into  the 
streets :  and  as  most  children  prefer  the  liberty  to  play  to 
the  confinement  of  meeting,  the  greater  part  of  the  school 
leave  under  the  pretence  of  going  home.  But,  being 
without  the  company  of  their  teachers  or  parents,  they  are 
liable  to  fall  in  with  bad  children,  and  to  be  led  away  into 
wickedness  ;  or,  being  without  restraint,  to  indulge  the 
natural  disposition  of  children,  and  spend  the  sabbath  in 
play,  and  thus  efface  from  their  minds  all  recollection  of 
what  has  been  taught  them  in  the  school,  and  commit  the 
very  sin  from  which  the  school  was  designed  to  save  them. 
No  teacher  does  his  duty  unless  he  takes  all  his  class  with 
him  into  the  church,  and  superintends  their  behavior  during 
divine  service,  and  dismisses  his  class  at  the  time  that  their 
parents  can  return  with  them  from  the  house  of  God.  By 
such  a  course  the  children  enjoy  the  instruction  of  the 


472  DOING  GOOD   UNTO  ALL   MEN.  [SEE. 

school,  are  trained  to  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
preserved  from  all  improper  conduct  on  the  holy  sab- 
bath. 

Another  benefit  of  sabbath  schools,  to  be  mentioned  and 
valued,  is,  that 

They  lead  children  to  the  formation  of  proper  and  useful 
associations, 

Man  is  a  social  being — constituted  such  by  his  Creator. 
Children  are  especially  so.  And  in  forming  their  early 
associations  they  are  governed  almost  entirely  by  circum- 
stances, rather  than  by  the  discretion  with  which  the  con- 
nections of  after  life  are  generally  formed.  Children  are 
unsuspecting  and  inconsiderate.  They  rather  fall  into, 
than  form,  their  youthful  intimacies.  And  who  does  not 
know  that  a  person's  character,  happiness,  and  destinies, 
are  all  greatly  influenced  by  his  companions  and  friends  ? 
How  all-important  is  it,  then,  that  children  should  be  so 
circumstanced  as  to  form  their  early  friendships  favorably, 
with  persons  whose  manners,  intelligence,  and  piety,  ren- 
der them  examples  of  character  and  conduct  sufficiently 
excellent  and  exalted  to  be  worthy  of  their  imitation ! 
This  very  desirable  point  is  gained  by  the  sabbath  school. 
Here  are  the  intelligent,  pious,  and  devoted,  of  our  churches 
— generally  the  best  examples  of  moral  and  religious  ex- 
cellence to  be  found  on  earth.  And  in  the  sabbath  school, 
children,  when  confiding  and  imitative,  are  brought  into 
direct  contact  with  this  excellence  of  character  and  pro- 
priety of  manners  and  deportment.  The  intimacy  between 
sabbath-school  scholars  and  their  teachers  is  peculiarly 
endearing.  The  scholar  regards  his  teacher  as  his  disin- 
terested friend,  his  best  counselor,  and  sincere  well-wisher. 
He  feels  that  his  sabbath-school  teacher  loves  him,  and 
therefore  labors  and  prays  for  him,  that  he  may  do  him 
good.  So  yielding  and  susceptible  is  the  character  of  the 
scholar,  and  so  powerful  the  influence  of  the  instructor, 
that  every  faithful,  praying  sabbath-school  teacher,  may, 
by  the  blessing  of  God,  impress  the  likeness  of  his  own 
character  upon  the  heart  and  life  of  each  member  of  his 
class.  It  is  in  this  way  that  much  of  the  good  of  sabbath 
schools  is  to  be  effected.  We  remark,  in  the  third  place, 
that  sabbath  schools 

Develop  and  improve  many  mirids  that  woidd  othenvise 


XXXII.]  DOING  GOOD   UNTO    ALL  MEN.  473 

remain  benighted  and  depraved,  constituting  a  part  of  the 
'^magnificent  ruins  of  the  f ally 

Soundness  of  understanding  and  intelligence  of  mind 
are  not  spontaneous  productions.  They  are  the  reward 
of  the  cultivating  hand  and  the  disciplinary  power.  In- 
deed, excellence  of  mind  is  only  found  in  a  cultivated  soil, 
in  a  religious  atmosphere,  and  under  the  radiance  of  the 
sun  of  science.  And  millions  of  intellectual  plants  never 
find  this  genial  soil  and  atmosphere,  until  they  are  trans- 
planted into  them  by  the  sabbath  school,  and  these  institu- 
tions first  reflect  upon  them  the  vivifying  rays  of  mental 
light. 

Many  children,  whose  parents,  perhaps,  cannot  read, 
and  have  not  the  means  of  sending  them  to  other  schools, 
and  therefore  can  afford  them  no  other  advantages  for  in- 
struction, are  here  first  learned  their  alphabet,  then  its 
arrangement  into  syllables,  and  words,  and  sentences',  until 
they  can  read  and  understand  the  book  of  God ;  and  thus 
is  opened  to  them  a  world  of  information  and  delight. 
And  when  enabled  to  study  the  Bible,  they  are  capaci- 
tated for  other  reading  and  studies,  and  to  acquire  informa- 
tion on  any  and  all  subjects.  In  the  sabbath  school  they 
have  presented  to  their  thoughts,  in  different  ways,  the 
great  and  sublime  subjects  of  religious  meditation,  which 
so  naturally  and  powerfully  expand  the  mind,  and  afford 
full  exercise  to  all  the  contemplative  powers  of  the  soul. 
And  many,  who  in  these  institutions  first  tasted  the  plea- 
sures of  knowledge,  so  far  from  having  their  desire  for 
intellectual  improvement  satisfied  with  these  early  draughts, 
have  thereby  had  created  within  them  a  thirst  for  informa- 
tion which  could  not  be  quenched  until  they  had  drunk 
deep  and  freely  of  its  unsealed  fountains.  Consequently, 
being  thus  inspired,  they  have  overcome  all  opposing  diffi- 
culties, patiently  and  perseveringly  endured  the  requisite 
study  and  toil,  until  they  have  stood  among  the  best  edu- 
cated men  of  their  generation,  qualified  for  happiness  and 
usefulness,  both  in  the  world  and  in  the  church. 

The  great  object  of  sabbath-school  labor,  and  to  which 
all  other  considerations  ought  to  be  held  as  subservient,  is 

The  conversion  of  the  children  to  God — the  regeneration 
of  their  hearts  hy  the  Holy  Ghost. 

And  though  this  great  and  saving  blessing  does  not  so 


474  DOING  GOOD   UNTO  ALL   MEN.  [SER. 

uniformly  follow  the  labors  of  the  sabbath  school  as  it 
might  and  ought,  yet  multiplied  are  the  instances  where 
this  blessed  consequence  has  crowned  the  efforts  of  the 
faithful  servant  of  God  in  this  department  of  Christian 
enterprise.  And  perhaps  there  is  no  human  agency  so 
perfectly  adapted  to  this  soul-saving  work.  Indeed,  the 
sabbath  school  combines  all  gospel  agencies.  Here  the 
Scriptures  are  carefully  and  accurately  read;  here  the 
gospel  is  explained  and  enforced,  and  that,  too,  in  the 
most  familiar  and  affectionate  manner,  and  applied  person- 
ally to  the  tender  heart  and  conscience  of  the  scholar ;  and 
here,  also,  all  the  influences  of  devotion  are  exerted ;  the 
enlivening  and  animating  power  of  praise,  and  the  solemn 
and  subduing  power  of  prayer,  produce  their  happiest 
effects.  Here,  likewise,  is  felt  the  full  force  of  high  and 
holy  Christian  example,  as  exhibited  in  the  character  and 
conduct  of  the  teachers.  Such  a  combination  of  moral 
and  spiritual  influences  is  nowhere  else  to  be  found.  The 
sabbath  school  is  the  focus  which  collects  all  the  bright  and 
burning  rays  of  the  gospel,  and  concentrates  their  genial 
influences  upon  the  youthful  heart.  And  when  this  pow- 
erful agency  is  properly  and  skillfully  directed,  we  may 
confidently  expect  the  most  blessed  and  extended  results. 
And  thus  far  we  have  not  been  disappointed  in  these  ex- 
pectations. The  fruit  of  the  vine  has  hung  in  clusters. 
The  continuous  triumphs  of  the  cause  have  generally  been 
graced  with  the  trophies  of  regenerated  youth. 

II.  In  sabbath  schools,  more  fully  than  any- 
where ELSE,  WE  HAVE  THE  OPPORTUNITY  OF  LITE- 
RALLY "  DOING  GOOD  UNTO  ALL  MEN." 

These  institutions  benejit  those  ivho  labor  in  them. 

Here  it  is  obviously  true,  that  they  who  water  are  watered 
themselves.  In  order  that  he  may  be  prepared  to  instruct 
his  class,  the  teacher  finds  it  necessary  previously  to  acquaint 
himself  with  the  subject  of  his  instructions.  Thus  he  is 
led  to  study  and  reflection,  and  the  consequence  is  the  im- 
provement of  his  own  mind.  He  unites  in  the  devotions 
of  the  school,  by  which  his  heart  is  refreshed  and  made 
better.  Duty  requires  him  to  talk  to  his  class  about  their 
souls  and  their  Saviour ;  to  set  before  them  their  danger 
and  their  duty;  and  urge  them  to  give  heed  to  those 
"things  that   belong  to  their  everlasting   peace."     This 


XXXII.]  DOING   GOOD   UNTO  ALL  MEN.  475 

exercise  cannot  fail  to  quicken  and  strengthen  him  in 
"working  out  his  own  salvation."  In  his  fellow-laborers 
he  finds  a  band  of  kindred  spirits,  actuated  by  the  same 
principles  and  motives,  contending  with  similar  difiicul- 
ties  and  discouragements,  yet  patiently  and  ardently  toil- 
ing in  the  same  good  work.  The  society,  the  sympathy, 
the  examples  of  these  he  finds  profitable.  Thus  sab- 
bath-school laborers  do  good  unto  themselves  and  to  each 
other. 

Sabhath  schools  furnish  an  opportunity  of  doing  good  to 
the  children. 

As  we  have  already  dwelt  upon  the  benefits  conferred 
by  these  institutions  upon  children,  we  shall  not  repeat 
what  has  been  said,  or  enlarge  upon  the  topic  in  this  place, 
but  merely  refer  to  it  to  illustrate  our  present  position. 

They  afford  an  opportunity  of  doing  good  to  the  parents 
of  the  children. 

When  children  are  sought  out  and  brought  to  the  sab- 
bath school,  sometimes  curiosity,  and  sometimes  a  love  for 
their  children,  induce  their  parents  to  accompany  them  to 
the  school,  and  from  thence  to  the  church,  and  thus  indi- 
rectly through  the  sabbath  school  they  are  brought  to  hear, 
and  often  savingly  to  feel,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ.  The  same  considerations  frequently  lead 
them  to  read  the  most  excellent  library  books  brought 
home  by  their  children  from  the  sabbath  school,  by  which 
they  are  instructed  in  the  things  of  God,  and  induced  to 
seek  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  Again,  teachers,  in 
visiting  their  scholars,  have  afibrded  them  a  favorable 
opportunity  of  conversing  with  the  parents  on  the  mo- 
mentous subjects  of  religion.  The  fact  of  their  being  the 
sabbath-school  teachers  of  their  children  will  command  for 
their  persons,  and  for  their  instructions  and  admonitions,  a 
respect  and  attention  which  afford  a  strong  ground  of  ex- 
pectation that  their  labors  will  not  be  "in  vain  in  the 
Lord."  And  numerous  indeed  are  the  instances  where 
the  conversion  of  the  children  in  the  sabbath  school  has 
led  to  the  conversion  of  the  parents. 

They  afford  an  opportunity  of  doing  good  to  the  com- 
munity. 

All  the  wickedness  and  unlawful  and  riotous  conduct 
existing  in  society,  arise  either  from  the  ignorance  or  de- 


476  DOING  GOOD  UNTO  ALL  MEN.  [SER. 

pravity  of  the  persons  guilty  of  them.  If,  then,  by  sabbath 
and  other  schools  we  instruct  and  educate  all  the  rising 
generation,  we  wholly  remove  one  of  the  prolific  sources 
of  public  insecurity  and  calamity.  And  if,  by  the  agency 
of  these  institutions,  we  bring  the  youthful  population  un- 
der moral  and  religious  influences,  and  not  only  make 
them  enlightened,  but  pious,  when  they  come  forward  in 
life,  we  shall  then  have  dried  up  entirely  the  sources  of 
public  immoralities,  disturbances,  and  tumults  ;  and,  having 
removed  the  cause,  the  effect  must  cease.  And  to  what- 
ever extent  we  can  accomplish  these  purposes,  in  exactly 
the  same  proportion  do  we  establish  public  morals  and  the 
general  weal.  I  will  here  take  occasion  to  observe  that 
knowledge  and  religion  are  the  only  conservative  powers 
upon  which  society  can  safely  depend  for  quiet  and  happi- 
ness. Peace  can  look  nowhere  else  for  a  mandate  directed 
to  the  stormy  passions  of  depraved  men,  saying,  "  Be  still !" 
which  command  shall  hush  them  in  undisturbed  tran- 
quillity. And  liberty,  abused  and  endangered  liberty,  can 
turn  her  beseeching  eye  to  no  other  power  adequate  to 
give  stability  to  her  empire  and  eukirgement  to  her  do- 
minions. It  was  in  view  of  these  facts,  that,  after  the 
French  Revolution  had  spent  most  of  its  terrific  violence 
in  blasphemy,  anarchy,  and  bloodshed,  the  politic  but  irre- 
ligious Napoleon,  having  seized  the  helm  of  the  govern- 
ment, declared,  "  We  must  restore  the  sanctions  of  reli- 
gion." The  same  political  sagacity,  combined  with  genuine 
patriotism,  induced  the  sage  Franklin,  when  Paine's  "  Age 
of  Reason"  was  submitted  to  him  in  manuscript,  to  say  to 
the  infidel  author,  "  /  would  advise  you  not  to  attempt  un- 
chaining THE  TIGER,  hut  to  bum  tMs  picce  before  it  is 
seen  by  any  other  person.  If  men  are  so  wicked  vv^ith  re- 
ligion, what  ivould  they  be  without  it  f  However  novel 
and  startling  the  declaration  may  be  to  some,  and  however 
unwilling  others  may  be  to  admit  the  truth,  I  nevertheless 
afiirm  the  fact,  that  the  unpretending,  and  too  often  unno- 
ticed, but  devoted,  holy,  and  praying  body  of  sabbath- 
school  laborers  of  the  present  day,  are  doing  more  for  the 
promotion  of  public  virtue,  and  the  establishment  and  per- 
petuity of  free  institutions,  than  all  the  legislation  and 
political  arrangements  of  the  world.  They  are  the  "  stand- 
ing army"  of  freedom.     They  are  the  Spartan  band  that 


XXXII.]  DOING   GOOD   UNTO   ALL   MEN.  477 

have  placed  themselves  in  the  Thermopylas  of  the  moral 
world,  and  hold  in  check,  until  the  gospel  shall  subdue 
them,  the  more  than  Xerxean  host  of  the  vicious. 

They  afford  an  opportmiity  of  doing  good  to  the  church 
of  Christ. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  all  who  give  the  subject  their 
careful  attention,  that,  to  a  considerable  extent,  the  ranks 
of  the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  and  the  ranks  of  the 
"  sacramental  host"  of  the  church  militant,  are  replenished 
and  multiplied  by  their  operations.  These  institutions 
have  sometimes  also,  as  with  the  rod  of  Moses,  smitten  a 
rock  from  which  has  gushed  forth  a  stream  of  life  for  the 
salvation  of  a  perishing  nation.  This  was  done  in  the  in- 
stance of  Dr.  Morrison,  missionary  to  China,  who  translated 
the  Bible  into  the  Chinese  language,  and  thus  unsealed  to 
her  three  hundred  millions  of  benighted  souls  the  fountain 
of  saving  mercy.  Dr.  Morrison  received  his  first  religious 
instructions  and  impressions  in  the  sabbath  school.  How 
many  more  such  instances  of  infinite  good  to  heathen  na- 
tions have  resulted  from  these  seminaries  of  piety  and  wis- 
dom, we  are  unable  to  say.  We  are,  however,  far  from 
believing  this  to  be  a  solitary  case.  But  this,  of  itself,  is 
sufficient  to  hallow  our  regard  for  sabbath  schools,  and  to 
convince  those  who  are  laborers  in  them  of  their  high 
responsibilities ;  and  also  to  enlarge  their  expectations  of 
usefulness,  by  showing  them  that  one  or  more  of  their 
little  pupils  may  hereafter,  by  their  cultivation,  and  the 
blessing  of  God,  stand  as  a  Dr.  Morrison  or  a  Harriet 
Newell  on  the  missionary  catalogue.  Yes,  it  is  to  the  im- 
mortal youth  now  under  training  in  our  sabbath  schools, 
that  the  church  looks  for  her  intrepid  and  devout  servants, 
who  are  to  go  to  the  dark  places  of  the  earth,  which  "  are 
full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty,"  and  rend  from  them  the 
veil  of  heathenism,  and  reveal  unto  them  the  "  Sun  of 
righteousness  with  healing  in  his  wings" — for  her  bold 
and  dauntless  spirits,  who,  as  reformers,  are  to  stem  cor- 
ruption's torrents  and  defy  her  thunders — for  the  vast 
multitude  of  her  future  ministers,  who  are  to  stand  upon 
the  bank  of  that  "  river,  the  streams  whereof  make  glad 
the  city  of  God,"  and  cry  to  a  perishing  world,  "  Ho,  every 
one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,"  and  "  whoso- 
ever will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely."     Yes,  the 


478  DOING   GOOD   UNTO   ALL   MEN.  [SEK. 

sabbath  school  is  the  worJcshop  where  not  only  the  "  living 
stones^'  but  also  the  ^'■pillars''  and  the  ^'- ornaments,^'  of  the 
church  are  to  be  ivrought  out  and  polished.  And  these 
institutions,  by  furnishing  these  supplies  of  missionaries, 
reformers,  and  ministers,  will  render  the  church  the  most 
essential  and  lasting  service. 

They  afford  an  opportunity  of  benejiting  the  world. 

We  have  already  shown  this  in  illustrating  their  public 
utiUty,  and  their  great  advantages  to  the  church.  They 
also  improve  and  render  healthful  the  moral  atmosphere 
of  this  sinful  and  corrupt  world.  As  a  well-watered  gar- 
den in  the  midst  of  a  surrounding  desert  impregnates,  with 
its  freshness  and  perfume,  every  breeze  that  sweeps  over 
it,  and  thus  renders  healthy  and  odorous  the  surrounding 
and  distant  atmosphere,  so  these  gardens  of  the  church,  in 
which  are  found  the  "  balm  of  Gilead,"  the  "  rose  of  Sha- 
ron," and  the  "  lily  of  the  valley,"  not  only  send  up  their 
fragrance  to  heaven,  but  also  send  abroad  their  balmy  and 
fragrant  influences  over  the  moral  wastes  of  sin  around 
them.  They  are  trees  "  whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing 
of  the  nations''  They  are  perennial  flowers  that  blossom 
to  regale  the  moral  senses  of  mankind.  Their  influence, 
like  the  breath  of  morning,  is,  or  shall  be,  felt  in  every  part 
of  the  earth. 

III.  Having  thus  considered  this  opportunity 
or  doing  good  unto  all  men,  let  us  now  give  our 

ATTENTION  TO  THE  BEST  MANNER  OF  IMPROVING  IT. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances,  I  should  feel  that  it  be- 
came me  to  speak  on  this  topic  with  much  modesty  and 
diflftdence ;  but,  as  I  have  had  some  experience  in  teach- 
ing, and  extensive  opportunities  of  observing  the  diflerent 
modes  of  conducting  these  schools,  and  their  corresponding 
results,  I  shall  express  my  views  fully  and  freely. 

There  are  three  things  which  I  consider  indispensable 
in  usefully  conducting  sabbath  schools  : — 

1.    The  judicious  hut  strict  government  of  the  school. 

The  government  of  the  school  does  not,  as  is  often  sup- 
posed, belong  exclusively  to  the  superintendent,  but  each 
teacher  has  a  responsibility  in  this  matter.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  sabbath  school  may  be  aptly  compared  to  the 
federal  government  of  this  republic.  The  teachers  repre- 
sent the  state  governments,  and   the   superintendent  the 


XXXII.]  DOING   GOOD   UNTO   ALL   MEN.  479^ 

national  government.  And  in  properly  filling  these  re- 
spective departments  of  authority  in  the  school,  two  things 
are  necessary.  First.  The  self-government  of  the  superin- 
tendent and  teachers.  They  ought,  neither  of  them,  to  take 
any  liberties  they  would  not  be  willing  to  have  all  their 
scholars  imitate.  It  is  impossible  to  prevent  the  scholars 
from  whispering  to  each  other,  if  the  teachers  allow  them- 
selves the  liberty  of  saluting  each  other  in  the  school,  with 
a  "  good  morning,"  &c. ;  and  it  is  useless  to  think  of  keep- 
ing the  children  quiet  and  in  their  places,  if  the  teachers, 
after  having  gone  through  with  their  lessons,  leave  their 
classes,  and  go  and  sit  and  converse  with  each  other ;  nei- 
ther can  the  scholars  be  impressed  with  the  necessity  of 
avoiding  all  noise  and  disorder,  while  they  see  and  hear 
their  superintendent  and  teacher  walking  about  the  room 
with  a  careless,  heavy  tread ;  and  it  is  too  unreasonable  to 
require  punctuality  in  the  children,  when  the  teacher  is 
often  half  an  hour  too  late.  Before  the  officers  of  the 
school  expect  their  children  to  keep  from  Avhispering  and 
talking  in  school,  let  them  learn  to  avoid  it  themselves: 
and  before  they  require  their  scholars  to  keep  in  their 
proper  places,  let  them,  see  to  it  that  they  themselves  are 
never  out  of  their  places :  and  before  they  demand  of  pu- 
pils silence  and  carefulness,  let  their  own  tiptoe  step  and 
silent  movements  convince  the  children  of  the  gi-eat  pro- 
priety and  importance  of  such  demeanor :  and  before  they 
calculate  on  punctuality  from  their  youth,  let  them  set  a 
proper  example  on  the  subject.  Again:  In  governing 
the  school,  we  must  depend  rather  upon  preventing  than 
punishing  improper  conduct.  In  order  to  this,  every 
teacher  must  have  a  constant  supervision  of  each  scholar. 
It  is  not  necessary,  when  hearing  one  of  his  class  read  or 
recite,  to  give  his  undivided  attention  to  that  exercise ;  a 
little  practice  will  enable  him  at  the  same  time  to  have  an 
eye  upon  the  whole  class,  and  observe  their  positions  and 
actions.  And  in  time  of  singing  and  prayer,  after  habitu- 
ating himself  to  the  practice  a  little,  he  will  find  it  no  hin- 
derance  to  his  own  devotions  at  the  same  time  to  put 
himself  in  a  position  to  oversee  his  class.  And  this  watch- 
fulness on  the  part  of  the  teachers,  both  in  the  school  and 
in  the  church,  will  effectually  prevent  all  noise  and  impro- 
prieties. 


480  DOING   GOOD   UNTO  ALL  MEN.  [SER. 

2.  The  correct  instruction  of  the  children. 
Whatever  is  taught,  let  it  be  accurately  taught.     When 

engaged  in  teaching  them  to  read,  teach  them  to  speak  dis- 
tinctly, to  pronounce  correctly,  and  to  pay  a  due  attention 
to  punctuation  and  accent.  In  giving  attention  to  their 
recitations,  require  them  to  commit  their  lessons  fully.  It 
is  doing  the  children  a  positive  injury  to  encourage  them 
to  hurry  over,  in  a  careless  manner,  their  reading  lessons, 
or  to  come  to  school  with  their  recitations  only  half  com- 
mitted. This  is  especially  the  case  when  studying  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  My  feelings  have  been  shocked  by  the  man- 
ner in  which  I  have  heard  sabbath-school  children  stam- 
mering over,  and  incorrectly  and  irreverently  pretending 
to  recite,  their  task  from  the  Bible ;  and  still  more  have 
they  been  shocked  by  hearing  their  teachers  credit  them 
so  many  verses  committed  to  memory,  when,  in  fact,  they 
knew  not  a  single  verse.  The  children  can  never  obtain 
a  correct  understanding  of  the  Scriptures  from  this  incor- 
rect study  of  them.  And  in  after  life  they  can  never  quote 
them,  either  in  their  serious  meditations  or  in  conversation. 
But  let  them  commit  perfectly,  if  it  be  but  one  single  pas- 
sage of  the  word  of  God,  and  you  have  engraven  on  their 
minds  a  truth,  which,  like  a  sunbeam  of  heaven,  will  ever 
shine  resplendent  with  light  and  lustre,  unobscured  by  the 
darkness  of  earth  or  hell.  Again  :  Let  everything  be  care- 
fully ex'plained.  Let  it  be  so  simplified  and  illustrated, 
that  the  limited  capacities  of  the  children  can  readily  com- 
prehend it.  The  instructor  is  inexcusable  if  he  does  not 
observe  whether  his  scholars  hiow  their  lessons,  before  he 
suffers  them  to  pass  them  by.  And  in  the  sabbath  school, 
if  nowhere  else,  it  is  true,  that  "  what  is  worth  doing  at 
all,  is  worth  doing  well." 

3.  Giving  the  school  a  direct  and  -powerful  religious 
influence. 

The  religous  character  and  benefits  of  the  school  depend 
much  upon  the  manner  of  conducting  its  devotional  exer- 
cises. They  should  be  jeverent  and  solemn.  The  chil- 
dren should  all  be  encouraged  to  join  in  the  singing.  The 
person  leading  in  prayer  should  use  such  plain  and  fami- 
liar language,  that  even  the  children  will  understand  him. 
He  should  use,  as  near  as  may  be,  the  language  which 
children  use  in  asking  favors  of  their  parents ;  and  pray, 


XXXII.]  DOING    GOOD    UNTO    ALL   MEN.  481 

as  he  would  suppose  an  intelligent  and  pious  child  to  pray. 
This  will  engage  their  attention,  and  be  likely  to  interest 
their  feelings,  and  "  teach  them  how  to  pray."  The  reli- 
gious character  of  the  school  will  also  depend  much  upon 
the  fidelity  of  the  teachers,  in  admonishing  and  exhorting 
their  scholars.  The  teachers  should,  every  sahhath,  im- 
press the  subject  of  religion  upon  the  minds  of  their 
children.  If  the  recording  angel,  with  "  the  book  of  re- 
membrance," was  visibly  present,  taking  an  exact  account 
of  all  the  transactions  of  the  school,  how  few  teachers 
would  be  wilHng  that  that  account  should  be  sealed  up  for 
the  judgment,  and  that  angel  return  to  God,  v/ithout  having 
recorded  one  attempt,  one  effort,  to  induce  his  class  to  give 
their  hearts  to  the  Saviour!  And  yet  I  fear  that  many 
such  instances  of  criminal  neglect  will  stare  sabbath-school 
laborers  in  the  face  in  that  day  when  "  the  books  shall  be 
opened."  But  the  reward  of  the  teachers,  the  salvation  of 
the  scholars,  the  usefulness  of  the  school,  and  the  glory  of 
God,  all  forbid  that  it  should  be  so.  Furthermore,  the  re- 
ligious benefits  of  the  school  will  be  proportionate  to  the 
prayer  and  faith  of  those  who  conduct  it.  The  sabbath- 
school  teacher  would  have  very  little  confidence  in  the 
success  of  a  minister,  who,  though  he  might  preach  with 
the  ability  of  a  seraph  on  the  sabbath,  should  nevertheless 
forget  his  people,  and  neglect  to  pray  for  them  during  the 
week.  And,  I  would  ask,  is  not  the  sabbath-school  teacher 
engaged  in  a  similar  service — and  is  he  not  dependent 
upon  the  same  divine  blessing  for  his  success  ?  How, 
then,  can  he  expect  to  accomplish  the  spiritual  designs  of 
his  holy  calling  without  daily,  fervent  prayer  to  Almighty 
God  for  his  blessing  upon  his  exertions  and  his  class  ?  It 
is  true  here,  as  in  every  other  department  of  Christian 
effort,  that  "  according  to  our  faith  it  shall  be  done 
unto  us." 

From  the  foregoing  subject  we  infer — 

1.    The  importance  of  sahhath  schools. 

If  the  view  we  have  taken  of  them  be  correct,  then  they 
stand  among  the  most  prominent  and  useful  institutions  of 
the  church.  They  constitute  one  of  the  wheels  of  the  gos- 
pel chariot.  They  form  a  fulcrum  upon  which  the  church 
can  place  one  of  her  levers  in  lifting  up  the  world  to  God. 
They  therefore  legitimately  claim  the  favor  and  patronage 

21 


482  DOING   GOOD    UNTO   ALL   MEN.  [SER. 

of  the  church,  and  should  receive  the  attention  and  foster- 
ing care  of  all  her  ministers  and  members.  And  if  we 
have  rightly  estimated  their  bearings  upon  communities 
and  the  world,  they  are  justly  entitled  to  the  high  regards 
and  cordial  support  of  the  patriot  and  philanthropist,  as 
among  the  most  powerful  and  2)romising  means  for  the 
support  of  liberty,  and  the  melioration  of  the  condition  of 
our  fallen  race. 

2.  We  infer  the  interesting  character  of  sabbath-school 
laborers. 

They  are  second  only  to  the  "legate  of  the  skies"  in 
the  dignity  of  their  station,  and  the  usefulness  of  their 
labors.  They  are  working  in  the  mint  of  heaven,  with 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  impressing  the  divine  image  on 
thousands  of  youthful,  but  immortal  souls.  They  do  not, 
with  the  philosophy  of  Franklin,  play  with  the  thunder- 
bolts of  heaven  ;  but  by  prayer  they  bring  down  to  earth 
the  omnipotent  energies  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  thei] 
labors  employ  them  for  the  renovation  of  degenerate  souls. 
They  are  primary  planets  in  the  moral  universe  of  God, 
attracting  to  them,  and  bearing  with  them,  their  scholars 
as  their  satellites,  and  thus  bringing  them  within  the  radi- 
ance and  under  the  "  healing  wings "  of  the  "  Sun  of 
righteousness."  They  are  building  up  the  church,  blessing 
the  world,  and  peopling  heaven. 

3.  We  infer  the  duty  of  Christians  to  engage  in  sabbath- 
school  labors. 

Our  text  is  sufRcient  to  prove  this.  The  apostle  says, 
"As  we  have  therefore  opportunity,  let  us  do  good  unto 
all  men."  The  sabbath  school  furnishes  us  this  oppor- 
tunity; and,  regarding  the  language  of  the  text  as  no 
more  than  that  of  exhortation,  I  would  ask,  Are  we  at 
liberty  to  trifle  with  it?  Is  it  not  the  word  of  God? 
And  is  it  not  as  heinous  a  sin  to  neglect  a  gospel  oppor- 
tunity of  doiyig  the  will  of  God,  as  to  violate  a  Scrip- 
ture command  ?  I  confess  I  know  not  how  multitudes 
are  to  "stand  in  the  judgment"  of  "the  last  day."  The 
Scriptures,  by  which  they  are  to  be  judged,  require  them, 
"  as  they  have  opportunity,^^  to  "  do  good  unto  all  men." 
These  institutions  present  them  with  this  opportunity  ;  the 
minister  is,  from  week  to  week,  calling  for  laborers  in 
these  nurseries  of  the  church  ;  multitudes  of  degraded,  un- 


XXXII.]  DOING   GOOD    UNTO   ALL   MEN.  4$$ 

tutored  children,  are  in  their  neighborhoods,  growing  up  in 
sin  for  the  want  of  some  warm  Christian  heart  to  pity 
their  situation,  and  make  an  effoi't  to  reheve  them.  And 
yet  heaven  and  earth  cannot  move  these  persons,  who 
have  named  the  name  of  Christ,  to  give  up  their  inglorious 
ease  on  God's  own  day,  and  devote  its  sacred  hours  to 
pious  exertions  in  the  cause  of  Christ  and  humanity. 
"  May  God  have  mercy  on  their  souls  !"  The  church  has 
made  a  grievous  mistake  on  this  subject,  by  supposing  that 
the  duties  and  interests  of  these  ijistitutions  were  to  be 
committed,  exclusively,  to  the  young  and  inexperienced. 
This  is  both  impolitic  and  improper.  What  political 
government  would  place  its  military  academies  under  the 
direction  and  management  of  men  who  had  themselves  but 
just  enlisted,  and  had  had  but  little  or  no  opportunity  to 
make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  science  of  arms? 
And  shall  the  church,  in  marshaling  her  forces  for  the 
conquest  of  a  rebellious  world  and  the  acquisition  of  hea- 
ven, commit  her  institutions  for  religious  training  exclu- 
sively to  those  who  are  young  in  years,  and  but  just  enlisted 
in  the  "  holy  war  ?"  Common  sense  and  sound  judgment 
forbid  it.  We  need  in  the  sabbath  school  "  the  old  soldiers 
of  the  cross,"  that  we  may  have  the  wisdom  of  their  expe- 
rience and  the  weight  of  their  example.  We  also  need 
the  young,  that  we  may  have  the  advantage  of  their  acti- 
vity and  their  zeal.  And  neither  the  old  nor  the  young, 
neither  the  rich  nor  the  poor,  neither  the  married  nor  the 
unmarried,  can  be  excused,  unless  they  are  positively  inca- 
pacitatedhy  ill  health,  or  other  uncontrollable  circumtsances. 

4.    We  infer  the  reward  of  sahhath-school  labors. 

Some  persons  seem  to  feel,  and  indeed  say,  that  there  is 
a  "  drudgery  in  these  labors."  I  cannot  think  so.  If 
there  be  a  "  drudgery  "  connected  with  them,  it  is  precisely 
the  same  as  that  in  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  en- 
gaged, during  the  whole  of  the  active  part  of  his  incarnate 
life  ;  namely,  the  "  drudgery  "  of  instructing  the  ignorant, 
reforming  the  depraved,  and  assisting  the  helpless.  This 
is  a  "drudgery"  which  the  highest  archangel  in  heaven 
would  covet,  and  which  true  religion  seeks.  I  admit  that 
there  are  sacrifices  and  toil  connected  with  the  services  of 
these  institutions,  and  there  are  "  noise  and  dust "  in  the 
battle  they  wage  with  ignorance  and  sin.     But  victory  can 


484  DOING    <,OOD    UNTO   ALL  MEN.  [SER. 

only  be  enjoyed  after  a  conflict.  The  rainbow  is  always 
seen  in  connection  with  the  dark  and  watery  cloud,  and 
reward  must  always  follow  sacrifice  and  labor.  Attendant 
on  faithful  sabbath-school  labors  there  is  a  great  and  glo- 
rious reward.  Pious  actions,  like  spiritual  attainments, 
bless  now  and  for  ever.  The  soul,  unemployed  and  unex- 
cited,  becomes  like  the  stagnant  pool,  poisonous  to  itself, 
and  pestilential  in  its  influences ;  while  the  soul  piously 
employed  and  spiritually  excited  is  like  the  gushing  spring 
of  the  mountain  side,-  always  pure  and  fresh,  and  ever 
sending  forth  its  limpid  stream  to  give  fertility  and  beauty 
to  the  vale  through  which  it  passes.  How  striking  the 
contrast  between  the  professing  Christian  who  slumbers 
unusually  late  on  sabbath  morning  ;  benumbs  his  senses  by 
excessive  sleep — consequently  is  unfit  for  his  morning  devo- 
tions ;  is  so  late  at  breakfast,  and  so  slow  at  dressing,  that 
he  gets  to  church  after  service  is  begun ;  feels  dull  and 
sleepy  during  the  exercises  ;  goes  home  and  dines  heartily, 
and  then  must  take  a  nap,  or,  perhaps,  with  the  multitude 
of  other  sabbath-breakers^  he  takes  a  walk ;  peradventure 
gets  to  meeting  again  in  the  evening,  and  thus  spends  his 
entire  sabbath  without  profit  or  pleasure,  neither  blessing  nor 
being  blessed ; — and  that  joro/essor  of  religion  who  hails  with 
delight  "  the  ushering  in  "  of  the  holy  sabbath ;  spends  its 
earliest  hours  in  devotion  ;  filled  with  heavenly  peace  and 
sacred  joy,  hies  away  in  good  season  to  the  sabbath  school ; 
meets  with  pleasure  the  little  ones  for  whom  he  has  been 
praying,  and  has  now  come  to  labor ;  goes  through,  with 
sweetness  and  affection,  all  the  duties  of  the  school ;  then 
with  his  little  friends  enters  the  church,  prepared  to  en- 
gage with  fervor  and  delight  in  the  services  of  the  sanctu- 
ary ;  and  in  the  afternoon  repeats  the  same  delightful 
Christian  exercises ;  thus  "  keeps  the  sabbath  holy  unto 
the  Lord,"  worships  "  in  the  spirit,"  does  good  unto  others, 
and  has  the  approbation  of  his  conscience  and  his  God. 
O !  ye  slothful  ones,  who  prefer  your  ease  to  your  duty, 
tell  me,  are  not  faithful  sabbath-school  laborers  rewarded 
a  hundred  fold  in  this  life  ?  But  it  is  not  in  this  life  that 
they  are  to  look  for  or  enjoy  their  highest  reward  ;  but  in 
the  life  to  come,  being  numbered  with  those  that  "have 
turned  many  to  righteousness,"  they  "  shall  shine  as  the 
6tars  for  ever  and  ever." 


XXXIII.]    CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  485 


SERMON  XXXIII. 

Christ's  first   Sermon  after  his  Resurrection ;  or, 
Christ  the  Theme  of  the  Prophets. 

BY  REV.   ELIJAH  HEDDING,   D.  D.,  * 

ONE  OF  THE  BISHOPS  OF  THE  M.  E.  CHURCH. 

"  And  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  expounded  unto 
them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself." — Luke 

xxiv,  27. 

On  the  day  of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  two  of  the  dis- 
ciples (not  of  the  twelve)  were  traveling  from  Jerusalem 
to  a  village  called  Emmaus,  which  lay  north-west  of  Jeru- 
salem about  eight  miles  ;  and  as  they  traveled  they  talked 
together  of  all  those  things  which  had  happened ;  that  is, 
of  the  crucifixion  and  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  "  And  it 
came  to  pass,  that,  while  they  communed  together  and 
reasoned,  Jesus  himself  drew  near,  and  went  with  them. 
But  their  eyes  were  holden  that  they  should  not  know 
him.  And  he  said  unto  them,  What  manner  of  communi- 
cations are  these  that  ye  have  one  to  another,  as  ye  walk, 
and  are  sad  ?  And  the  one  of  them,  whose  name  was  Cle- 
opas,  answering,  said  unto  him.  Art  thou  only  a  stranger  in 
Jerusalem,  and  hast  not  known  the  things  which  are  come 
to  pass  there  in  these  days  ?  And  he  said  unto  them.  What 
things  ?  And  they  said  unto  him,  Concerning  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  which  was  a  prophet  mighty  in  deed  and  word 
before  God  and  all  the  people ;  and  how  the  chief  priests 
and  our  rulers  delivered  him  to  be  condemned  to  death, 
and  have  crucified  him.  But  we  trusted  that  it  had  been 
he  which  should  have  redeemed  Israel:  and  besides  all 
this,  to-day  is  the  third  day  since  these  things  were  done. 
Then  he  said  unto  them,  O  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to  be- 
lieve all  that  the  prophets  have  spoken !  Ought  not  Christ 
to  have  suffered  these  things,  and  to  enter  into  his  glory  ?" 
Then  come  in  the  words  of  the  text :  "  And  beginning  at 
Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  expounded  unto  them  in 
all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself." 

I.  Let  us  first  consider  our  Lord's  sermon  on 

THIS  occasion. 


486  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  [SEK. 

He  explains  Moses,  the  prophets,  and  the  Scriptures  in 
general,  concerning  himself.  He  probably  began  with 
Genesis  iii,  15  :  "  And  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and 
the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed :  it  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  Then 
he  proceeded  to  Gen.  xiv,  18,  and  took  up  the  character 
of  Melchizedek,  priest  of  the  Most  High  God,  king  of  Sa- 
lem, king  of  righteousness,  and  king  of  peace,  and  showed 
how  that  eminent  priest  and  king  was  a  type  of  the  great 
Messiah.  Then  he  probably  explained  the  promises  to 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  Gen.  xxii,  18:  "And  in  thy 
seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed,"  showing 
that  the  Messiah  had  come  to  bestow  benefits,  in  some  de- 
gree, on  all  mankind.  Then  he  took  up  the  words  of  Ja- 
cob, Gen.  xlix,  10  :  "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from 
Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh 
come ;  and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be." 
And,  at  large,  he  showed  them  how  this  prophecy  was  ful- 
filled in  the  timely  manifestation  of  Jesus  in  the  flesh. 
Next  he  expounded  Deut.  xviii,  15 :  "  The  Lord  thy  God 
will  raise  up  unto  thee  a  prophet  from  the  midst  of  thee, 
of  thy  brethren,  like  unto  me."  Here  the  Saviour  showed 
them  how  Christ,  in  his  mission,  in  many  of  the  circum- 
stances of  his  life,  resembled  Moses,  and  fulfilled  that  great 
promise  to  Israel.  Then  he  proceeded  to  the  types,  sacri- 
fices, and  ceremonies  of  the  law,  showing  how  they  were 
all  intended  to  prefigure  the  Messiah,  and  how  they  were 
accomplished  in  his  ministry,  sufferings,  and  death.  He 
then  illustrated  the  great  deliverance  to  the  Israelites,  who 
had  been  poisoned  by  the  fiery  serpents,  as  he  had  done 
before,  in  his  discourse  to  Nicodemus,  John  iii,  14:  "As 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so 
must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life."  Here  he 
showed  how  full,  how  free,  and  on  what  easy  condition, 
salvation  was  provided  for  sinful  man,  when  Christ  was 
lifted  up  on  the  cross,  and  by  his  being  further  exhibited 
to  the  world  by  the  preaching  of  the  cross.  We  may  sup- 
pose he  next  quoted  Isaiah  vii,  14:  "Behold  a  virgin 
shall  conceive,  and  bear  a  son,  and  shall  call  his  name 
Immanuel."  A  miracle  was  here  predicted,  altogether 
above  the  power  of  nature,  and  beyond  the  foresight  of 


XXXIII.]    CHRIST  THE  THE3IE  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  487 

man ;  yet  the  divine  Teacher  shows  that  it  was  perfectly- 
accomplished  in  the  person  of  Jesus.-  Again,  he  refers  to 
Isaiah  ix,  6 ;  "  For  unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a  son 
is  given ;  and  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder : 
and  his  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counselor,  the 
mighty  God,  the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  peace." 
O,  if  we  could  have  heard  that  sermon,  or  if  it  had  been 
left  on  record,  what  an  illustration  we  should  have  seen  of 
that  essential  gospel  doctrine,  that  the  mighty  God  was 
united  in  one  person  with  feeble  manhood  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  world !  Now  he  showed  them  that  the  time  of 
Christ's  personal  appearance  in  the  world  had  been  the 
subject  of  prophecy,  Daniel  ix,  24-26:  "Seventy  weeks 
are  determined  upon  thy  people  and  upon  thy  holy  city, 
to  finish  the  transgression,  and  to  make  an  end  of  sins, 
and  to  make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  to  bring  in 
everlasting  righteousness,  and  to  seal  up  the  vision  and 
prophecy,  and  to  anoint  the  most  Holy,"  &c.  Here  the 
heavenly  preacher,  probably,  informed  his  hearers  when 
Daniel's  term  of  seventy  weeks  commenced,  and  how  the 
great  events  of  that  prophecy  had  been  and  would  be  ac- 
complished. Probably  he  next  quoted  Malachi  iii,  1 : 
"  Behold,  I  will  send  my  messenger,  and  he  shall  prepare 
the  way  before  me ;  and  the  Lord,  whom  ye  seek,  shall 
suddenly  come  to  his  temple."  He  took  occasion  to  show 
them  that  the  ministry  of  the  Baptist  and  the  preaching 
of  Christ  in  the  temple  had  fulfilled  the  predictions  of  the 
prophet.  Let  us  suppose  that  then  the  holy  minister 
showed  them  that  in  the  person  of  Jesus  the  prophecies 
were  fulfilled  which  declared  that  the  Messiah  should  de- 
scend from  Judah,  and  from  Jesse,  and  from  David,  Isaiah 
xi,  1,  10:  "And  there  shall  come  forth  a  rod  out  of  the 
stem  of  Jesse,  and  a  Branch  shall  grow  out  of  his  roots. . . . 
And  in  that  day  there  shall  be  a  root  of  Jesse,  which  shall 
stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people :  to  it  shall  the  Gentiles  , 
seek;  and  his  rest  shall  be  glorious."  The  prophecy  of 
Micah,  respecting  the  place  of  the  Messiah's  birth,  then 
came  under  consideration,  chap,  v,  2 :  "  But  thou,  Bethle- 
hem Ephratah,  though  thou  be  little  among  the  thousands 
of  Judah,  yet  out  of  thee  shall  He  come  forth  unto  me  that  is 
to  be  ruler  in  Israel ;  whose  goings  forth  have  been  from 
of  old,  from  everlasting."     What  a  prophecy  was  this,  that 


488  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  [SER.' 

the  Being,  whose  goings  forth  were  from  everlasting, 
would  manifest  himself  in  Israel  as  their  ruler  ;  and,  hum- 
bling himself,  would  take  upon  him  the  form  of  a  man, 
and  be  born  of  a  virgin  in  Bethlehem !  Singular  as  it 
might  appear,  this  great  personage,  who  was  to  be  born  in 
Bethlehem,  should  be  called  out  of  Egypt,  Hosea  xi,  1 : 
"  And  called  my  son  out  of  Egypt."  Here,  probably,  the 
Messiah  showed  how  this  prophecy  not  only  referred  to 
Israel  formerly,  but  to  a  particular  fact  in  the  history  of 
Jesus.  So,  too,  the  Holy  Spirit,  a  sure  commentator, 
taught  St.  Matthew  (chap,  ii,  15)  to  understand  it.  The 
Saviour  then  went  on  to  show  them  that  the  great  perse- 
cution that  had  been  raised  against  Christ,  and  that  had 
fallen  upon  the  innocent  children  of  Bethlehem,  had  been 
predicted,  Jer.  xxxi,  15  :  "A  voice  was  heard  in  Ramah, 
lamentation  and  bitter  weeping;  Rachel  weeping  for  her 
children,  refused  to  be  comforted  for  her  children,  because 
they  were  not."  Matt,  ii,  18.  He  taught  the  disciples  fur- 
ther how  the  Messiah's  residence  at  Nazareth  had  been 
foretold  by  the  Scriptures,  and  what  Matthew  meant, 
chap,  ii,  23  :  "  And  he  came  and  dwelt  in  a  city  called 
Nazareth :  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by 
the  prophets.  He  shall  be  called  a  Nazarene.^'  Authors 
differ  very  much  in  opinion  on  this  text.  The  following, 
from  Mr.  Wesley's  Notes  on  the  passage,  I  think  is  the 
best  I  have  seen:  "He  came  and  dwelt  in  Nazareth, 
(where  he  had  dwelt  before  he  went  to  Bethlehem,)  a 
place  contemptible  to  a  proverb,  so  that  thereby  has  been 
fulfilled  what  has  been  spoken,  in  effect,  by  several  of  the 
prophets,  (though  by  none  of  them  in  express  words,)  He 
shall  be  called  a  Nazarene,  that  is,  he  shall  be  despised 
and  rejected ;  shall  be  a  mark  of  public  contempt  and  re- 
proach." Watson  on  this  passage  confirms  the  same  opi- 
nion, as  appears  from  the  following :  "  No  such  passage 
occurs  in  the  old  Testament,  nor  can  St.  Matthew  refer  to 
any  particular  text,  because  he  does  not  refer  to  any  par- 
ticular prophet ;  for  the  phrase  is,  *  That  it  might  be  ful- 
filled which  was  spoken  by  the  prophets  ;'  in  the  plural, 
so  that  something  was  thus  accomplished  in  Christ,  to 
which  all  the  prophets  gave  concurrent  testimony.  Now 
it  is  plain  that  they  all  agree  that  he  should  be  despised 
as  well  as  rejected  of  men ;  that  he  should  be  the  object 


XXXIII.]    CHRIST  THE  THEME  OP  THE  PROPHETS.  489 

of  contumely  and  reproach ;  and  therefore,  as  Whitby 
well  remarks,  'the  angel  sent  him  to  this  contemptible 
place  that  he  might  have  a  name  of  infamy  put  upon  him/ 
He  shall  be  called  mean  and  contemptible,  as  the  root  of 
the  word  signifies,  as  well  as  separated.  How  Nazareth 
was  esteemed,  we  learn  from  the  words  of  the  mild  Na- 
thaniel :  '  Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ?' 
and  the  title  Nazarene  has  been,  by  Jews  and  other  ene- 
mies, always  given  in  contempt  to  our  Saviour  and  his  dis- 
ciples. All  the  other  speculations  of  commentators  on  the 
designation  appear  to  be  fanciful  and  groundless." 

He  next  illustrated  Isaiah  ix,  1,  2,  as  quoted  by  Mat- 
thew, (iv,  15,  16,)  to  show  them  how  the  Messiah's  resi- 
dence, preaching,  and  miracles,  in  Capernaum  by  the  way 
of  the  sea,  were  foretold  by  the  prophet :  "  The  land  of 
Zebulon,  and  the  land  of  Nephthalim,  by  the  way  of  the 
sea,  beyond  Jordan,  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles ;  the  people 
which  sat  in  darkness  saw  great  light ;  and  to  them  which 
sat  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death  light  is  sprung  up." 
He  showed  them,  further,  that  even  the  manner  of  his 
riding  into  Jerusalem  had  been  predicted  by  Zechariah, 
ix,  9  :  "  Rejoice  greatly,  O  daughter  of  Zion ;  shout,  O 
daughter  of  Jerusalem :  behold  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee : 
he  is  just,  and  having  salvation ;  lowly,  and  riding  upon 
an  ass,  and  upon  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass."  Matt,  xxi,  5. 
Even  the  contemptible  price  for  which  the  Redeemer  was 
sold,  Jesus  showed  them  from  the  same  prophet  Zecha- 
riah, xi,  12  :  "  So  they  weighed  for  my  price  thirty  pieces 
of  silver."  Matt,  xxvi,  15.  The  treachery  of  Judas  toward 
the  divine  Master,  as  pointed  out  by  the  Psalmist,  was 
next  referred  to.  Psalm  xli,  9 :  "  Yea,  mine  own  familiar 
friend,  in  whom  I  trusted,  which  did  eat  of  my  bread,  hath 
lifted  up  his  heel  against  me."  John  xiii,  18.  This  won- 
derful teacher  further  informed  them,  that  the  circum- 
stance of  Christ's  disciples  fleeing  and  leaving  him,  in  the 
hour  of  his  trial,  had  been  marked  by  prophecy,  Zechariah 
xiii,  7 :  "  Smite  the  shepherd,  and  the  sheep  shall  be  scat- 
tered." Matt,  xxvi,  31.  We  may  suppose  that,  in  prose- 
cuting his  discourse,  the  Saviour  passed  on  to  some  of  the 
prophecies  which  pointed  out  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  the  Messiah's  sufferings,  of  which  sufferings  the  disciples 
had  been  eye-witnesses,  Isaiah  1,  6  :  "I  hid  not  my  face 
21* 


490  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.         [SER. 

from  shame  and  spitting."  Matt,  xxvi,  67.  Isaiah  1,  6: 
"I  gave  my  back  to  the  smiters."  Matt,  xxvii,  26.  Psalm 
Ixix,  21 :  "They  gave  me  also  gall  for  my  meat;  and  in 
my  thirst  they  gave  me  vinegar  to  drink."  Matt,  xxvii,  34. 
Psalm  xxii,  18  :  "  They  parted  my  garments  among  them, 
and  cast  lots  upon  my  vesture."  Matt,  xxvii,  35.  Psalm 
xxii,  16  :  "  They  pierced  my  hands  and  my  {eet''  Zecha- 
riah  xiii,  6  :  "  AYhat  are  these  wounds  in  thy  hands  ? 
Then  he  shall  answer.  Those  with  which  I  was  wounded 
in  the  house  of  my  friends."  These  were  predictions  of 
his  crucifixion,  as  is  recorded  in  Matt,  xxvii,  35.  Isaiah 
liii,  12:  "He  was  numbered  with  the  transgressors;"  that 
is,  he  was  crucified  between  two  thieves,  as  Matthew  in- 
forms us,  ch.  xxvii,  28.  Psalm  xxii,  8  :  "  He  trusted  in 
the  Lord  that  he  would  deliver  him  ;  let  him  deliver  him, 
seeing  he  delighted  in  him."  This  prophecy  refers  to  the 
insolence  of  our  Saviour's  enemies,  recorded  in  Matt, 
xxvii,  43.  Psalm  xxii,  1  :  "  My  God !  my  God !  why 
hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?"  Matt,  xxvii,  46.  Zechariah 
xii,  10 :  "  And  they  shall  look  on  him  whom  they  have 
pierced."  This  was  a  j)rophecy  of  the  soldier's  piercing 
his  side.  John  xix,  34.  Psalm  xxxi,  5  :  "  Into  thy  hand 
I  commit  my  spirit."  This  was  a  prophecy  of  the  words 
the  Saviour  used  in  his  death,  as  is  declared  by  St.  Luke, 
xxiii,  46.  What  an  assemblage  was  here,  of  singular  and 
unexpected  events !  What  mind  could  have  foreseen 
these  things  but  the  divine  Mind  ?  AVhat  evidence  is  here 
furnished,  that  holy  men  of  old  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost !  What  a  deep  interest  must  the  hearers 
have  felt,  while  they  listened  to  the  Master  in  his  expla- 
nations of  these  prophecies,  and  when  he  proved  to  them, 
beyond  all  possible  doubt,  that  they  had  their  accomplish- 
ment in  Christ's  sufferings  !  Now  they  heard,  and  possibly 
for  the  first  time,  a  clear  exposition  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
great  atonement ;  and,  it  may  be,  this  was  the  time  when 
they  were  brought  to  an  experimental  knowledge  of  the 
great  salvation  procured  by  that  atonement.  How  suitable, 
then,  was  their  ecstasy,  and  how  appropriate  their  excla- 
mation, when  they  said,  "  Did  not  our  heart  burn  within 
us,  while  he  talked  with  us  by  the  way,  and  while  he 
opened  to  us  the  Scriptures  ?" 

Probably  the  Saviour  then  proceeded  to  show  them  how 


XXXIII.]    CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  491 

the  prophecy  in  Psalm  xxxiv,  20,  "  A  bone  of  him  shall 
not  be  broken,"  was  fulfilled.  John  xix,  36.  He  went  on 
also  to  show  them  how  the  burial  of  Jesus  in  the  tomb  of 
Joseph  of  Arimathea  had  been  marked  bj  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  liii,  9  :  "  He  made  his  grave  . . .  with  the  rich  in  his 
death."  Matt,  xxvii,  60.  Even  the  use  that  was  made  of 
the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  for  which  Jesus  was  sold,  he 
showed  them  was  a  subject  of  prophecy,  Zechariah  xi,  13: 
"  And  I  took  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver  and  cast  them  to 
the  potter."  Matt,  xxvii,  10.  These  disciples  had  just  in- 
formed the  supposed  stranger  in  Jerusalem,  that  certain 
women  of  their  company  had  reported  that  Christ  was 
missing  from  the  sepulchre,  and  that  a  vision  of  angels  had 
declared  to  them  that  he  was  alive.  The  teacher  then 
showed  them  that  tliis  glorious  event  had  been  foreseen 
and  foretold  by  the  Psalmist,  Psalm  xvi,  10 :  "  Thou  wilt 
not  leave  my  soul  in  hell ;  neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thy 
Holy  One  to  see  corruption."  Here  he  taught  them,  that 
though  the  soul  of  Jesus  had  been  in  the  place  of  departed 
spirits,  which  this  scripture  calls  hell,  (not  the  place  of 
torment,)  and  that  though  his  body  had  been  in  the  tomb, 
yet  he  had  not  lain  there  long  enough  to  see  corruption, 
and  that  now  the  report  they  had  heard  of  his  being  alive 
was  true,  for  the  Lord  is  risen  indeed.  He  showed  them, 
further,  that  this  glorious  personage,  who  is  reported  to 
have  risen  from  the  dead,  would  shortly  ascend  up  into 
heaven,  whence  he  came.  Psalm  Ixviii,  18:  "Thou  hast 
ascended  on  high,  thou  hast  led  captivity  captive ;  thou 
hast  received  gifts  for  men;  yea,  for  the  rebellious  also, 
that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among  them."  He  re- 
ceived gifts  for  men — the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 
Jesus  had  promised  before  his  crucifixion,  and  all  the 
blessings  accompanying  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit. 

It  is  likely  that  the  Lord  proceeded  to  enlarge  on  the 
doctrines  the  Messiah  should  teach,  as  they  are  portrayed 
by  the  prophets.  He  spake  of  the  great  salvation.  "  He 
is  just,  and  having  salvation ;"  salvation  from  the  guilt, 
dominion,  love,  and  indwelling  of  sin  ;  salvation  from  the 
wrath  of  God  which  hangs  over  sinners ;  salvation  from 
the  malice  and  cruelty  of  Satan  ;  salvation  for  the  soul, 
and,  at  the  resurrection,  salvation  for  the  body ;  salvation 
for  all  dying  infants,  so  that  no  one  of  them  goes  to  hell, 


4:92  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OP  THE  PROPHETS.  [SER. 

either  for  Adam's  sin  or  for  their  own  depravity,  they 
being  purchased  by  the  atoning  blood,  and,  if  they  are 
taken  out  of  the  world  in  infancy,  they,  being  sanctified  by 
the  eternal  Spirit,  are  taken  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
according  to  the  word  of  Him  who  said,  "•  Suffer  little  chil- 
dren to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven."  It  is  a  salvation  offered  to  all, 
and  will  be  a  sure  salvation  to  all  penitent  believers ;  a 
free  salvation,  without  money  or  price,  witliout  worthiness 
or  obedience,  as  a  condition  of  it ;  a  salvation  for  the  chief 
of  sinners,  the  lowest  and  the  meanest  not  excepted  ;  a 
full  salvation  from  everything  that  would  cast  a  man  out 
of  the  divine  favor,  or  hinder  his  admittance  into  the  king- 
dom of  glory  ;  a  present  salvation,  offered  to  every  one 
now  that  will  believe ;  an  eternal  salvation,  from  all  the 
effects  and  consequences  both  of  original  and  actual  sin. 

He  gave  them  next  a  description  of  the  spiritual  king- 
dom of  Jesus,  and  showed  them  how  the  words  of  Isaiah 
would  be  fulfilled,  when  he  said  of  the  Messiah,  "  His 
name  shall  be  called.  The  Prince  of  peace."  Here  I 
should  not  wonder  if  he  extended  his  remarks  to  what  has 
been  called  the  latter-day  glory — the  Millennium — a  day 
that  wdll  certainly  bless  the  church  before  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  and  the  end  of  the  world.  He  expounded 
Zechariah  ix,  10:  "He  shall  speak  peace  to  the  heathen. 
. . .  And  his  dominion  shall  be  from  sea  even  to  sea,  and 
from  the  river  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,"  showing 
them  how  the  dark  places  of  the  earth  should  be  enlight- 
ened ;  how  the  heathen  shall  cast  their  idols  to  the  moles 
and  to  the  bats ;  how  the  Gentiles  shall  come  to  his  light, 
and  kings  to  the  brightness  of  his  rising.  He  went  on  to 
show  them  how,  in  the  latter  day,  the  Jews  also  w^ould 
submit  to  the  authority  of  the  Messiah,  and  referred  to 
Ezekiel  xxxvii,  21-24:  "Behold,  I  will  take  the  children 
of  Israel  from  among  the  heathen,  wliither  they  be  gone, 
and  will  gather  them  on  every  side,  and  bring  them  into 
their  own  land ;  and  I  will  make  them  one  nation  in  the 
land  upon  the  mountains  of  Israel ;  and  one  king  shall  be 
king  to  them  all ;  and  they  shall  be  no  more  two  nations, 
neither  shall  they  be  divided  into  two  kingdoms  any  more 
at  all ;  neither  shall  they  defile  themselves  any  more  with 
their  idols,  nor  with  their  detestable  things,  nor  with  any 


XXXIII.]    CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  493 

of  their  transgressions  ;  but  I  will  save  them  out  of  all 
their  dwelling-places,  wherein  they  have  sinned,  and  will 
cleanse  them ;  so  shall  they  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be 
their  God.  And  David  my  servant "  (Messiah)  "■  shall  be 
king  over  them ;  and  they  all  shall  have  one  shepherd : 
they  shall  also  walk  in  my  judgments,  and  observe  my 
statutes,  and  do  them."  What  a  field  was  here  open  for 
the  illustrious  expounder  of  the  prophets  to  exhibit  to  his 
astonished  hearers  the  future  glories  of  the  Messiah's' king- 
dom ;  showing  how  the  promises  to  David  and  to  Solomon 
v/ould  be  accomplished  in  the  success  and  influence  of  the 
gospel  among  Jews  as  well  as  Gentiles  !  He  referred,  pro- 
bably, to  Isaiah  ii,  4:  "And  he  shall  judge  among  the 
nations,  and  shall  rebuke  many  people ;  and  they  shall 
beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their  spears  into 
pruning-hooks  ;  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  na- 
tion, neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more."  No  wonder 
the  hearts  of  the  disciples  burned  within  them  while  they 
heard  this  part  of  the  discourse,  and  were  led  to  under- 
stand how  Jesus,  the  Messiah,  should  judge  among  the 
nations,  and  rebuke  many  people,  by  preaching  both  his 
law  and  his  gospel,  until  he  should  subdue  the  turbulent 
passions  of  men,  destroy  their  personal  animosities,  their 
fimiily  and  neighborhood  contentions,  and  put  an  end  to 
their  national  conflicts,  and  bring  them  to  one  general  feel- 
ing of  brotherhood  ;  subduing  princes  and  senates,  and  the 
great  body  of  the  tribes  of  men,  to  the  mild  sceptre  of  the 
Prince  of  peace,  till  they  should  no  longer  shed  each 
other's  blood,  nor  learn  war  any  more. 

II.  Let  us  consider  the  benefits  we  may  derive 

FROM  THIS   SERMON. 

1.  It  encourages  us  to  search  and  understand  the  Scri'p- 
tnres. 

The  Scriptures  furnish  our  only  certain  rule  of  morals. 
They  teach  us  the  duties  growing  out  of  our  domestic 
relations — the  duties  we  owe  to  wives,  husbands,  parents, 
children,  brothers,  and  sisters,  of  which  we  should  be  igno- 
rant were  it  not  for  this  blessed  Bible.  The  Scriptures 
show  how  we  ought  to  conduct  toward  our  fellow-men  in 
general,  in  all  the  relations  and  circumstances  of  life.  They 
teach  us  the  existence  and  character  of  God  as  our  Crea- 
tor, Preserver,  and  Redeemer,  and  furnish  us  with  all 


494  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  [SER. 

necessary  information  respecting  our  duty  to  him — subjects 
of  the  highest  and  most  important  knowledge  for  every 
soul  of  man.  The  Scriptures  lead  us  to  a  true  knowledge 
of  ourselves — of  our  origin,  our  spiritual  and  immortal 
nature.  Without  revelation,  we  should  have  no  satisfac- 
tory information  respecting  our  future  being ;  we  should 
not  know  whether  we  are  to  exist  at  all  after  death ;  or,  if 
to  exist,  whether  we  are  all  to  be  happy,  or  all  miserable  ; 
nor  whether  there  is  any  way  for  us  to  escape  misery  and 
to  obtain  happiness.  But  by  the  Scriptures  life  and  im- 
mortality are  brought  to  light;  the  way  to  heaven  is  laid 
open,  and  divine  light  is  furnished  for  every  step  of  our 
pilgrimage  to  eternal  glory.  As  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is 
revealed  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life,  we  should  search  these  holy  records  for  the  true  know- 
ledge of  Christ — his  nature,  his  character,  his  atonement, 
his  doctrines  and  precepts.  Especially  should  those  who 
teach  his  religion  search  the  Scriptures,  and  gain  an  accu- 
rate knowledge  of  Christ  in  all  his  offices.  Above  all, 
they  should  not  be  in  darkness  respecting  the  true  Mes- 
siah, and  the  way  to  heaven  by  him.  If  they  teach  the 
people  to  trust  in  some  other  Saviour,  rather  than  in  the 
Word  who  Avas  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us ;  if,  tliey 
teach  that  that  God  who  was  manifested  in  the  flesh  is  not 
an  object  of  trust  and  worship  ;  or,  if  they  point  the  people 
to  some  other  foundation  of  salvation  and  hope  than  the 
atonement  made  by  Christ  on  the  cross,  and  thus  put 
darkness  for  light,  they  will  be  guilty  of  preaching  a  false 
Saviour,  and  of  leading  the  people  into  a  false  religion ; 
and  thus,  the  bhnd  leading  the  blind,  both  will  fall  into 
the  ditch  together. 

2.  It  encourages  us  to  preach  Scripture  sermons. 

The  Scriptures  must  be  the  foundation  and  the  life  of 
our  religious  discourses.  Preaching  the  Scriptures  is  to 
make  the  people  wise  unto  salvation.  The  word  of  God 
is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  by  which  the  messenger  of 
Christ  is  to  penetrate  the  hearts  of  rebels  against  God, 
and  bring  them  wounded  and  humbled  to  the  foot  of  the 
cross,  to  obtain  mercy  and  grace,  through  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  to  heal,  and  cleanse,  and  pardon,  their  guilty  souls. 
Let  him  not  suppose  his  business  is  to  compose  a  polished 
sermon,  drawn  from  the  opinions  and  the  philosophy  of 


XXXIII.]    CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  495 

men,  conveyed  in  jSnely  rounded  periods,  embellished 
style,  the  words  of  wisdom  which  man's  wisdom  teachethy 
to  get  for  himself  admiration  and  praise  from  those  that 
hear  him.  By  such  means  he  may  get  his  rewai'd — the 
honor  that  cometh  of  men — but  he  will  fail  of  that  hpnor 
which  cometh  from  God,  and  he  will  fall  far  short  of  imi- 
tating the  example  of  that  Teacher  from  heaven,  whose 
sermon  is  the  subject  of  our  contemplation.  Neither  will 
the  hearts  of  his  hearers  burn  within  them,  while  he  fails 
to  open  to  them  the  Scriptures,  but  gratifies  their  "  itching 
ears  "  with  words  and  sayings  which  are  unbecoming  the 
sanctity  of  his  holy  office,  calculated  to  feed  the  people 
with  husks  and  ashes  rather  than  with  the  sincere  milk  of 
the  word.  Behold  what  an  example  is  set  to  preachers  of 
the  gospel  by  our  heavenly  Master  in  the  discourse  we 
have  had  under  consideration  !  See  that  example  followed 
by  St.  Peter,  in  his  sermon  recorded  in  the  second  chapter 
of  the  Acts ;  and  by  St.  Stephen  in  the  seventh  chapter, 
and  by  St.  Paul  in  the  thirteenth  chapter — examples  that 
ought  ever  to  be  before  the  eye  of  every  minister  of  Christ, 
the  models  for  his  imitation. 

3.  It  calls  the  people  to  listen  to  Scripture  sermons. 

They  come  to  the  house  of  God  to  be  instructed  respect- 
ing God  and  religion,  their  duty  to  God  and  man,  the 
great  interests  of  their  souls,  how  they  may  be  saved  from 
sin  and  hell,  and  gain  an  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Let  them,  then,  respect  those  sermons  which 
draw  their  doctrines  and  illustrations  from  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures ;  let  them  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the  things 
they  have  heard,  lest  at  any  time  they  should  let  them 
slip.  God  gives  them  the  sabbath,  the  sanctuary,  and  the 
ministry,  for  the  great  purposes  of  their  salvation  ;  let 
them  not  undervalue  these  sacred  institutions  ;  let  them 
improve  the  things  which  belong  to  their  peace,  lest  they 
be  hid  from  their  eyes.  It  is  a  desecration  of  these  holy 
institutions  for  the  people  to  look  to  the  pulpit  for  fables ; 
or  for  the  wisdom  that  cometh  of  men ;  or  for  such  preach- 
ing as  is  calculated  to  delight  the  imaginations  and  taste 
of  a  sinful  people ;  or  to  be  pleased  with  those  perform- 
ances in  which  men  preach  themselves  instead  of  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord.  It  has  become  too  common  a  thing  of 
this  age,  for  the  people  to  cry,  "  Prophesy  unto  us  smooth 


496  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROIHETS.  [SER. 

things;''^  following  the  examples  of  Korah,  Datlian,  and 
Abiram,  they  speak  lightly  of  God's  plain,  faithful,  Scrip- 
tural ministers,  and  thereby  bring  dearth  and  a  curse  on 
their  own  souls,  and  on  the  souls  of  the  people  associated 
with  them. 

4.  This  sermon  should  move  the  preachers  of  the  gospel 
to  imitate  their  blessed  Master  in  preaching  Christ,  as  suit- 
able opportunities  are  presented,  even  to  small  coiigregations. 

They  are  to  be  instant  in  season,  out  of  season ;  to  re- 
prove, rebuke,  exhort,  with  all  long-suffering  and  doctrine. 
They  are  to  watch  for  the  right  time  and  place,  while 
walking,  or  riding,  or  sailing,  or  in  the  domestic  or  social 
circle,  to  reason  with  the  people  out  of  the  Scriptures, 
"  opening  and  alledging  that  Christ  must  needs  have  suf- 
fered, and  risen  again  from  the  dead,  and  that  this  Jesus, 
whom  I  preach  unto  you,  is  Christ."  The  spirit  of  Christ 
in  his  primitive  ministers  led  them  to  follow  his  example ; 
as  Philip  to  the  eunuch.  Acts  viii,  35 :  "  Then  Phihp 
opened  his  mouth,  and  began  at  the  same  scripture,  and 
preached  unto  him  Jesus ;"  or  like  Paul  to  the  philoso- 
phers of  Athens,  preaching  unto  them  Jesus  and  the  resur- 
rection. As  far  as  the  same  spirit  now  animates  the 
preachers  of  the  gospel,  as  they  feel  the  worth  of  souls 
for  whom  Christ  died,  as  they  see  the  importance  of  their 
salvation,  they  improve  every  fit  opportunity  to  preach 
Christ  to  them.  Preachers  of  this  character  will  not  be 
satisfied  with  barely  preaching  to  the  great  congregation 
on  the  sabbath ;  but,  as  far  as  other  duties  will  allow,  and 
health  and  strength  will  permit,  and  to  the  extent  the  con- 
dition of  the  people  requires  it,  they  will  go  out  into  re- 
mote neighborhoods  on  week  days,  where  many  of  the 
people  cannot  attend  the  sabbath  service,  and  preach  unto 
them  Christ  and  his  salvation.  They  never  will  object, 
"  The  people  will  not  pay  us,"  nor  say,  "  They  might  come 
to  the  church  on  the  sabbath ;"  but,  feeling  that  a  dispen- 
sation of  the  gospel  is  committed  unto  them,  and  that  there 
is  a  wo  unto  them  if  they  preach  not  the  gospel,  the  holy 
fire  of  love  to  God,  and  to  the  souls  he  hath  made,  will 
thrust  them  out,  to  go,  like  their  divine  Master,  and  seek 
for  the  lost  sheep  and  bring  them  to  Christ. 

5.  This  sermon  strengthens;  our  faith  in  the  tnith  of  the 
Scriptures. 


XXXIII.]    CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  497 

Our  Lord  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures. 
It  furnishes  an  evidence  that  all  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  are  to  be  received  as  the  word  of  God.  In  the 
time  of  our  Lord,  the  Jews  received  all  the  books  as  Holy 
Scriptures  which  are  now  contained  in  our  Old  Testament. 
They  did  not  allow  the  Apocrypha  to  be  a  part  of  the 
Scriptures,  as  it  was  written  at  a  time  when  they  had  no 
prophets  or  miracles  among  them.  These  apocryphal 
books  never  ought  to  be  bound  in  the  same  volume  with 
the  Scriptures.  Some  have  doubted  the  divine  authority 
of  the  Song  of  Solomon ;  but  this  sermon  of  our  Lord 
settles  the  question,  and  gives  his  sanction  to  that  portion 
of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  as  a  part  of  the  word  of  God. 
That  the  Song,  or  Canticles,  was  a  part  of  the  Jewish 
Scriptures,  is  testified  by  Josephus,  and  approved  by  Dr. 
Adam  Clarke,  as  may  be  seen  by  his  note  on  the  forty- 
fourth  verse  of  this  chapter.  John  v,  39 :  "  Search  the 
Scriptures  ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life  :  and 
they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  2  Timothy  iii,  15,  16  : 
"  And  that  from  a  child  thou  hast  known  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation 
through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  All  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doc- 
trine, for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteous- 
ness." Acts  xvii,  11:  "These  were  more  noble  than 
those  in  Thessalonica,  in  that  they  received  the  word  with 
all  readiness  of  mind,  and  searched  the  Scriptures  daily, 
whether  those  things  were  so."  These  quotations  furnish 
the  highest  authority  that  can  be  given — by  the  word  of 
Christ,  and  by  that  of  the  inspired  apostles — that  all  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  received  by  the  Jews  in 
the  time  of  our  Saviour,  and  as  now  contained  in  our  Bi- 
bles, are  to  be  regarded  as  the  word  of  God. 

This  sermon  strengthens  our  confidence  in  our  transla- 
tion of  the  Scriptures.  It  shows  us  that  the  word  of  God 
can  be  conveyed  by  a  translation  ;  for  the  Jews  generally 
used  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  Sep- 
tuagint.  They  read  it  in  the  synagogues ;  Christ  and  the 
apostles  generally  quoted  from  it ;  it  was  read  in  the  pri- 
mitive Christian  churches  ;  the  fathers  quoted  from  it ;  all 
of  which  go  to  prove  that  they  regarded  that  translation 
as  the  word  of  God.     And  if  the  Septuagint  was  the  word 


498  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  [SER. 

of  God,  our  version  is  so  also,  and  the  Scriptures  may  be 
given  by  translation  to  the  different  nations  under  heaven. 
Admit  the  opinion  that  the  word  of  God  cannot  be  under- 
stood by  a  translation,  and  you  involve  the  absurdity  that 
there  is  no  Bible  for  all  nations ;  and  you  teach  that  the 
people  must  trust  the  priests  to  tell  them  what  is  the  word 
of  God. 

This  sermon  strengthens  our  faith  in  the  truth  of  the 
prophecies  concerning  the  future  advancement  and  pros- 
perity of  Christ's  kingdom  in  this  world.  Psalm  ii,  8  : 
"  Ask  of  me,  and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine 
inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy 
possession."  To  the  unbelieving  mind,  the  wide-spread 
idolatry  of  the  heathen,  the  extended  influence  of  Moham- 
medanism, the  iron  arm  of  Popery,  the  infidelity  and  cor- 
ruption of  multitudes  who  are  called  Protestant  Christians, 
the  dreadful  wickedness  of  the  great  body  of  the  people 
throughout  Christendom,  the  spirit  of  avarice,  cruelty,  and 
war,  which  broods  over  the  nations,  present  insurmounta- 
ble obstacles  to  the  establishment  of  Christ's  kingdom  all 
over  the  world.  But  hark !  who  gave  the  promise  last 
quoted  ?  "  God  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  lie ;  neither  the 
son  of  man,  that  he  should  repent :  hath  he  said,  and  shall 
he  not  do  it  ?  or  hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not  make  it 
good  ?"  Did  not  God  promise  to  Abraham,  when  the  Ca- 
naanite  dwelt  in  the  land,  '•  Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give"  it? 
Who  brought  Israel  up  out  of  Egypt,  the  house  of  his 
bondage  ?  Who  opened  the  Red  Sea  as  a  path  to  deliver 
his  people  from  Pharaoh,  with  his  hosts  of  horsemen  and 
of  chariots  ?  Who  went  before  his  chosen,  their  leader 
and  guard,  in  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  and  of  fire  by  night  ? 
Who  made  the  waters  of  Jordan  subside  at  the  entrance 
of  the  ark  of  his  covenant,  and,  with  a  high  hand  and  out- 
stretched arm,  brought  his  people  to  the  land  he  had  pro- 
mised ?  The  same  God  who  promises  the  heathen  for  the 
inheritance  of  his  Son,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
for  his  possession.  Who  promised,  Jeremiah  xxiii,  5,  "  Be- 
hold, the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  raise  unto 
David  a  righteous  Branch,  and  a  King  shall  reign  and 
prosper,  and  shall  execute  judgment  and  justice  in  the 
earth  ?"  Was  not  that  promise,  in  part,  fulfilled  in  the 
ministry,  death,  and  resurrection,  of  Christ  ?     And  will  it 


XXXIII.]       CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  499 

not  be  fully  accomplished  in  establishing  the  reign  of 
Christ  over,  all  lands  ?  Did  not  the  Prince  of  peace  con- 
quer sin,  and  hell,  and  death  ?  Did  he  not  shake  the  idols 
at  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  give  his  ministry  power  to 
bring  thousands  of  the  heathen  into  his  kingdom  in  the 
days  of  the  apostles  ?  Then,  certainly,  by  such  means  as 
he  shall  appoint,  and  in  his  own  time, — 

"  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Does  his  successive  journeys  run : 
His  kingdom  spread  from  shore  to  shore, 
Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  more. 

"  From  north  to  south  the  princes  meet 
To  pay  their  homage  at  his  feet ; 
While  western  empires  o^vn  their  Lord, 
And  savage  tribes  attend  his  word." 

It  strengthens  the  faith  of  individual  Christians  in  all  God 
has  promised  for  their  protection,  support,  and  comfort, 
through  all  the  trials  of  life,  and  in  the  awful  hour  of  death. 
The  same  God,  who  is  the  author  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
so  eminently  fulfiiicJ  in  the  person  of  the  Messiah,  has 
made  all  the  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises  to 
Christ's  disciples : — 

"  His  word  of  grace  is  sure  and  strong 
As  that  which  built  the  skies  ; 
The  voice  that  rolls  the  stare  along, 
Speaks  all  the  promises." — Watts. 

6.    This  sermon  tends  to  increase  our  abhorrence  of  sin. 

Why  was  it  necessary  for  our  Saviour  to  endure  the 
sufferings  portrayed  by  the  prophecies  which  he  expounded 
in  this  sermon  ?  The  answer  is  in  his  own  words,  in  the 
46th  and  47th  verses  of  this  chapter :  "  Thus  it  is  written, 
and  thus  it  behooved  Christ  to  suffer,  and  to  rise  from  the 
dead  the  third  day ;  and  that  repentance  and  remission  of 
sins  should  be  preached  in  his  name  among  all  nations, 
beginning  at  Jerusalem."  Had  we  not  sinned,  the  Sa- 
viour had  not  suffered;  had  he  not  suffered,  repentance 
and  remission  of  sins  had  not  been  preached.  Except, 
through  his  sufferings,  the  Holy  Spirit  could  not  have  been 
given  to  enlighten  our  dark  minds,  or  to  soften  our  hard 
hearts ;  nor  could  the  gospel  have  been  preached  to  pro- 


500  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  TH-E  PROPHETS.  [SER. 

claim  pardon  to  our  guilty  souls.  Acts  v,  31 :  "  Him  hath 
God  exalted  with  his  right  hand  to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Sa- 
viour, for  to  give  repentance  to  Israel,  and  forgiveness  of 
sins."  Can  we  think  of  our  Lord,  denied,  betrayed,  for- 
saken, agonizing  in  the  garden,  bleeding  and  dying  on  the 
cross,  bearing  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  with- 
out hating  those  sins  which  were  the  occasion  of  his  pour- 
ing out  his  soul  unto  death  ? 

7.  This  sermon  should  increase  our  love  to  Christ. 

2  Cor.  viii,  9  :  "  For  ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that,  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  he 
became  poor,  that  ye  through  his  poverty  might  be  rich." 
1  Tim.  i,  15  :  "This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief."  If  we  believe  this  glorious 
truth,  that  Christ  died  for  sinners  ;  if  we  suitably  meditate 
upon  it,  our  hearts  will  burn  within  us,  not  only  with  joy 
and  hope,  but  with  love  to  Him  who  bought  us  with  so  great 
a  price.  We  shall  then  know  what  that  saying  means — "  love 
is  stronger  than  death." 

"  Thus  might  I  hide  my  blushing  face. 

While  his  dear  cross  appears ; 

Dissolve  my  heart  in  thankfulness, 

And  melt  mine  eyes  to  tears. 

"  But  drops  of  grief  can  ne'er  repay 
The  debt  of  love  I  owe  ; 
Here,  Lord,  I  give  myself  away, 
'Tis  all  that  I  can  do." 

8.  This  sermon  should  revive  our  zeal  for  Chrisfs  cause^ 
and  for  the  salvation  of  our  fellow-creatures. 

He  did  and  suffered  what  is  illustrated  in  this  sermon ; 
and  shall  we  not  do  something  for  him,  and  for  the  souls 
he  has  redeemed  ?  Luke  xxiv,  33-35  :  "  And  they  rose 
up  the  same  hour,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem,  and  found 
the  eleven  gathered  together,  and  them  that  were  with 
them,  saying,  The  Lord  is  risen,  indeed,  and  hath  appeared 
to  Simon :  and  they  told  what  things  were  done  in  the 
way ;  and  how  he  was  known  to  them  in  breaking  of 
bread."  The  same  spirit  that  this  sermon  produced  on 
these  disciples,  was  given  to  St.  Paul — 2  Cor.  v,  13,  14: 
"  For  whether  we  be  beside  ourselves,  it  is  to  God ;  or 


XXXIII.]      CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  501 

whether  we  be  sober,  it  is  for  your  cause.  For  the  love 
of  Christ  constraineth  us ;  because  we  thus  judge,  that  if 
one  died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead."  The  redeemed  soul 
enters,  in  his  measure,  into  the  spirit  which  dwelt  in  Christ, 
when  he  gave  up  his  soul  unto  death.  Whenever  a  door 
opens  for  him  to  do  good,  his  heart  is  prepared  for  the 
work ;  he  feels  for  the  salvation  of  his  family  and  friends 
more  than  for  their  temporal  benefits.  The  love  of  Christ 
will  constrain  him  to  pray  for  them,  teach  them,  and  labor  to 
bring  them  to  Christ  and  to  heaven.  If  the  gospel  is  to  be 
preached  to  the  heathen,  he  is  ready  to  say,  Here 'am  I, 
send  me  ;  or,  if  he  is  not  called  to  be  a  missionary,  he  is 
ready  to  contribute  of  his  substance,  as  God  hath  given 
him  ability,  to  sustain  those  who  are  thus  called.  He  is 
ready  to  labor,  or  assist  others  in  their  labors,  by  prayers 
and  pecuniary  contributions,  to  sustain  that  glorious  in- 
stitution which  God's  providence  hath  wonderfully  pro- 
vided to  bless  the  church  and  to  enlighten  the  world — the 
sabbath  school.  In  this  institution,  though  sometimes 
one  may  be  called  to  labor  for  a  little  company  of 
the  lambs  of  Christ's  flock,  the  love  of  that  Master,  who 
took  little  children  in  his  arras  and  blessed  them,  saying, 
Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and  who  is  represented 
as  gathering  the  lambs  in  his  arms,  and  carrying  them  in 
his  bosom,  and  who  could  preach  so  long  a  sermon  to  but 
two  of  his  disciples,  will  not  only  sustain  them  under  their 
labors,  but  will  move  them  to  count  themselves  honored  in 
being  associated  with  so  kind  a  Shepherd.  If  men  will 
meditate  on  this  sermon,  while  they  see  that  all  things  are 
fulfilled,  or  will  be  fulfilled,  which  were  written  in  the  law 
of  Moses,  and  in  the  Prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms,  concern- 
ing Jesus,  it  will  fire  their  hearts  with  love  for  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  lead  them  to  pray,  and  contribute,  and  other- 
wise labor,  as  Providence  shall  open  the  door,  to  aid  in 
spreading  the  Scriptures  throughout  the  world,  until  it  shall 
be  seen  through  all  nations,  that  Christ  was  given  for  a  light 
to  the  Gentiles,  that  he  may  be  for  salvation  unto  the  ends 
of  the  earth. 

"  Then  will  I  tell  to  sinners  round, 
What  a  dear  Saviour  I  have  found  5 
I'  11  point  to  thy  redeeming  blood, 
And  saj, '  Behold  the  way  to  God.' " 


502  CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  [SER. 

9.  This  sermon  confirms  our  hope  of  heaven. 

The  promises  will  be  fulfilled.  The  author  of  this  ser- 
mon had  said,  John  xiv,  1-3 :  "  Let  not  jour  heart  be 
troubled ;  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me.  In  my 
Father's  house  are  many  mansions  ;  if  it  were  not  so  I 
would  have  told  you :  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you : 
and  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again 
and  receive  you  unto  myself;  that  where  I  am  there  ye  may 
be  also."  The  spirit  of  prophecy  which  promised  the 
coming  of  Jesus,  promised  also,  Isaiah  xxxv,  10,  "And 
the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return,  and  come  to  Zion 
with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads  :  they  shall 
obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee 
away."  Jesus  said,  "As  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also ;"  and,  to 
his  faithful  friends,  that  word  will  never  fail. 

10.  This  sermon  affords  great  encoi(,ragement  to  penitent, 
helieviyig  souls. 

The  Spirit  of  God  in  the  prophets,  which  so  fully  and 
particularly  predicted  the  advent,  life,  sufferings,  and  death, 
of  Christ,  hath  said,  "  Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth ;  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none 
else."  And,  also,  "  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way, 
and  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts;  and  let  him 
return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him ; 
and  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon."  The  Re- 
deemer confirmed  that  promise,  "  Come  unto  me,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest."  His  apostles  frequently  renewed  it : 
"  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved."  "■  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life 
freely."  Let  no  one  doubt  or  fear  to  come  to  this  Saviour. 
Let  not  his  sins,  or  his  unworthiness,  keep  him  from  the 
foot  of  the  cross.  Let  him  not  wait  to  make  himself  bet- 
ter before  he  comes,  for  this  he  can  never  effect.  Let 
him  only  consent  to  forsake  his  sins,  and  believe  in  Jesus, 
and  come  now,  wounded,  bleeding,  oppressed  with  sin's 
intolerable  load,  as  he  is ;  let  him  come,  and  say,  from  a 
broken  heart,  Jesus,  thou  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  me  ; 
and,  as  the  Lord  liveth,  he  shall  find  rest  to  his  soul. 

11.  7'his  sermon  should  be  a  warning  to  lis  that  the 
threatening s  of  the  Bihle  icill  he  fulfilled. 

The  voice  of  eternal  tnith,  which  uttered  these  wonder- 
ful  predictions  concerning  Christ,   has   also   said,  "The 


XXXIII.]     CHRIST  THE  THEME  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  503 

wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell,  with  all  the  nations  that 
forget  God."  The  Author  of  this  sermon  hath  said,  "  He 
that  beheveth  not  shall  be  damned."  An  inspired  apostle 
hath  said,  "  When  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from 
heaven,  with  his  mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire,  taking 
vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,  and  that  obey  not 
the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  be  punished 
with  everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
and  from  the  glory  of  his  power."  Surely,  as  the  word  of 
the  prophets  was  true  in  regard  to  his  first  advent,  so  it 
will  be  accomplished  in  his  second  advent.  Surely,  as  it 
was  true,  and  Christ  came  to  be  humbled  and  to  sufier, 
will  it  be  true  that  he  shall  come  to  be  honored  and  to  be 
glorified.  Surely,  as  it  was  fulfilled,  and  he  came  to  be  judged 
by  men  in  his  first  appearing,  will  it  be  fulfilled,  and  he 
shall  come  to  judge  the  world  at  his  second  appearing.  As 
certainly  as  he  once  came  to  sliow  mercy,  and  as  he  now 
lives  to  show  mercy,  he  will  come  in  the  great  day  to  take 
"  vengeance  "  on  his  enemies.  O,  sinner !  flee  !  flee  !  from 
the  face  of  the  Judge — flee  from  the  wrath  to  come — flee 
from  the  vengeance  of  that  Judge  you  have  so  much  in- 
jured— flee,  without  any  delay — flee,  while  he,  who  is  yet 
to  be  your  judge,  is  on  the  mercy-seat — fly  to  the  Lamb 
of  God,  who  yet  remains  ready  and  willing  to  take  away 
the  sins  of  the  world. 


504  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  [SER. 

SERMON  XXXIV. 

The  Neiv  Birth. 

BY  THOMAS  E.  BOND,  M.  D.,  D.  D., 

SENIOR  EDITOR  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE  AND  JOURNAL. 

"  Jesus  answered,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee.  Except  a  man  be 
born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God."— John  iii,  5. 

Among  the  many  proofs  of  the  divine  inspiration  which 
guided  the  writers  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  may  be  fairly 
adduced  the  simplicity  and  absence  of  display  in  the  narra- 
tives they  contain  of  the  greatest  events  which  are  any- 
where recorded  in  history.  Had  Homer,  or  Virgil,  or  any 
historian  of  antiquity,  invented  or  given  the  tradition  of 
such  an  interview  and  dialogue  as  that  recorded  in  the 
third  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  with  what  poetical  i  m  agery 
and. glowing  eloquence  it  would  have  been  introduced! 
Yet  nothing  can  exceed  in  beauty — nothing  could  add  to 
the  interest  of  the  simple  unadorned  style  in  which  the 
evangelist  records  the  transaction :  "  There  was  a  man 
of  the  Pharisees  named  Nicodemus :  the  same  came 
to  Jesus  by  night,  and  said  unto  him,  Rabbi,  we  know 
that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God ;  for  no  man 
doeth  the  miracles  that  thou  doest,  except  God  be  with 
him."  And  then  the  direct  annunciation  of  the  terras  and 
conditions  of  man's  salvation  from  the  divine  Teacher  to 
the  sincere,  humble  believer  in  his  authority,  as  a  teacher 
sent  from  God,  without  circumlocution  or  any  pompous  in- 
troduction, so  different  from  the  manner  in  which  an  im- 
postor, or  the  inventor  of  a  new  religion,  would  have  issued 
his  dogmas,  affords  internal  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the 
narrative. 

And  Avhat  an  important  portion  of  history  is  here  re- 
corded !  Whether  we  consider  the  condition  of  the  world 
when  it  occurred,  the  subject  discussed,  or  the  persons  en- 
gaged in  the  conversation,  this  is  certainly  amono-  the  most 
deeply  interesting  incidents  recorded  in  the  Bible. 

"  The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God."     At  the  time 


XXXIV.]  THE   NEW   BIRTH.  505 

of  this  interview  between  our  blessed  Lord  and  Nicode- 
mus,  the  whole  world,  with  the  exception  of  the  little  ter- 
ritory of  Judea,  was  "  wholly  given  to  idolatry."  In  vain 
had  men  of  the  brightest  intellect  cultivated  letters  and 
philosophy.  So  far  from  being  able  to  originate  the  idea 
of  a  true  God,  they  had  not  been  able  to  preserve  the  reve- 
lation made  to  the  patriarchs  before  the  flood,  which  gave 
the  knowledge  of  his  nature  and  attributes.  The  gods  of 
Greece  and  Rome  were  either  imaginary  creations,  or  dead 
men,  whom  their  ancestors  had  deified  for  their  heroism 
and  prowess ;  and  they  supplied  them  with  female  compa- 
nions according  to  their  fancy.  Of  these  imaginary  deities 
they  made  images  of  gold,  of  silver,  of  wood,  or  of  stone,  and 
worshiped  them,  offering  to  them  sacrifices  and  prayers. 
The  absolute  necessity  of  a  revealed  religion  could  not  have 
been  more  certainly  demonstrated.  The  Greeks  and  the 
Romans  furnish  us  to  this  day  with  the  most  perfect  mo- 
dels in  eloquence,  in  poetry,  in  architecture,  in  statuary,  and 
in  painting;  and  our  colleges  and  institutions  of  learning 
make  the  writings  of  antiquity  the  chief  study  of  youth. 
Yet  these  writers  were  as  ignorant  of  the  true  God,  of  the 
service  and  worship  due  to  him,  and  the  right  means  of 
propitiating  his  favor,  as  the  Avildest  of  the  barbarous  na- 
tions around  them.  And  if  the  Jews  were  an  exception  to 
the  general  state  of  the  world,  it  was  because  they  had 
been  separated  from  the  rest  of  mankind  by  direct  mani- 
festations of  the  divine  power,  and  preserved  by  miracle 
from  the  common  defection.  And  this,  not  for  their  own 
sakes,  or  on  account  of  their  superior  piety  or  deservings ; 
but  that  they  might  be  the  depositary  of  revealed  truth  until 
the  promised  Messiah  should  come,  in  whom  all  the  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  Yet  even  these  had 
"made  void  the  law  of  God  through  their  traditions; 
teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men."  They 
drew  near  to  God  with  their  lips,  while  their  hearts  were 
far  from  him. 

In  this  state  of  universal  apostasy  and  rebellion  against 
the  rightful  Sovereign  of  heaven  and  earth,  "  a  teacher, 
come  from  God,"  appears  in  Judea,  to  communicate  to 
man  the  true  religion — the  way  to  eternal  happiness — and 
at  his  feet  we  find  a  sincere,  humble  inquirer,  come  to 
learn  of  him  the  message  he  bore  from  heaven  to  a 
22 


506  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  [SER. 

fallen,  guilty  world — a  rebellious  province  of  God's  uni- 
versal empire.  But  how  wonderful  is  this  !  A  messen- 
ger from  heaven !  Why,  ever  since  the  fall,  man  has  been 
afraid  to  hear  from  heaven.  Adam  hid  himself  amidst  the 
trees  of  the  paradise  he  had  forfeited,  Avhen,  after  his  fall, 
"  he  heard  the  voice  of  God  in  the  garden."  And  when 
Jehovah  spoke  on  Sinai,  the  whole  congregation  of  Israel  did 
exceedingly  fear  and  tremble.  Even  the  appearance  of  one 
of  those  "angels  who  do  his  pleasure,"  would  fill  the  heart  of 
the  stoutest  and  most  courageous  of  mortals  with  affright  and 
dismay,  unless  supernaturally  sustained.  A-Vhen  Cornelius 
saw  the  angel,  sent  to  him  in  answer  to  his  prayers,  "he 
looked  on  him,  and  was  afraid."  How  is  it,  then,  that  Ni- 
codemus  betrays  no  fear  when  he  approaches  this  "  teacher 
come  from  God  ?"  Ah !  it  was  because  this  teacher,  who 
was  "  in  the  form  of  God,  and  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be 
equal  with  God,  made  himself  of  no  reputation" — literally 
"  emptied  himself"  of  the  glory  which  he  had  with  the  Fa- 
ther, before  the  world  was — "and  took  on  him  the  form  of 
a  servant," — not  of  an  angelic  servant — but  made  in  the 
likeness  of  men — "  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man.' 
"  The  brightness  of  his  Father's  glory,  and  the  expre?  - 
image  of  his  person,"  he  appears  clothed  with  humanity 
and,  thus  veiled,  greater  sinners  than  Nicodemus  have  ap- 
proached him  without  dread ;  yea,  in  humble  love  and  con- 
fidence, and  "  heard  words "  by  which  they  have  been 
saved.     "  O  matchless  grace  !  O  boundless  love  !" 

As  the  indispensable  qualification  for  entering  the  king- 
dom of  heaven, — the  Messiah's  kingdom  of  grace  on  earth, 
preparatory  to  his  kingdom  of  glory  in  heaven, — is  regene- 
ration, the  text  I  have  selected  requires  I  should  endea- 
vor to  show  the  nature,  the  evidences,  and  the  necessity,  of 
the  new  birth ;  and 

I.  Its  nature.  And  here  we  must  premise  that,  as 
the  new  birth  is  wholly  and  exclusively  a  doctrine  of  the 
Bible,  we  can  look  nowhere  else  for  any  explanation  of 
its  nature  or  imj^ort.  The  Bible  then  divides  the  world 
into  two  classes  or  states.  The  one  a  state  of  guilt,  de- 
pravity, and  condemnation ;  the  other  a  state  of  pardon, 
sanctification,  and  deliverance  from  the  sentence  of  death, 
which  the  law  of  God  annexes  to  the  transgression  of  its 
precepts.     Now,  when  God,  by  an  act  of  his  grace,  brings 


XXXiV.j  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  $07 

a  man  out  of  the  first  into  the  second  state,  he  is  said  in 
Scripture  language  to  be  "  born  again."     But, 

First.  This  is  a  great  change,  but  it  implies  no  physical 
change.  The  man  has  the  same  bodily  powers— and  no 
more — after  he  is  born  again,  that  he  had  before.  Neither 
does  it  deprive  the  subject  of  any  natural  mental  faculty, 
passion,  or  appetite.  All  these  are  rectified,  and  sanctified 
to  the  glory  of  God,  but  they  are  not  destroyed. 

Secondly.  The  work  of  regeneration  is  not  merely  a  rela- 
tive change — such  as  takes  place  when  a  heathen,  con- 
vinced of  the  folly  of  worshiping  images,  abjures  idolatry, ' 
and  openly  professes  a  belief  in  the  Christian  religion, 
without  any  change  of  heart.  Relatively  this  is  a  great 
change,  but  it  is  not  the  new  birth.  Such  a  one  is  greatly 
enlightened,  and  will  be  correspondingly  improved  in  his 
notions  of  God,  and  of  the  worship  and  service  due  to 
him.  But,  with  all  this,  he  may  know  nothing  of  the 
spirituality  of  religion,  nor  experience  any  of  its  spiritual 
enjoyments. 

Thirdly.  Water  baptism  is  not  regeneration — does  not 
effect  the  change  of  heart  and  life  which  the  new  birth  im- 
plies. For,  first,  we  cannot  afiirm  of  water  baptism  what 
the  Scriptures  afiirm  of  the  new  birth.  St.  John  says, 
"  He  that  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit  sin," — doth  not 
willingly  live  in  the  violation  of  any  known  divine  com- 
mandment. But  can  we  say  this  of  all  who  have  been 
baptized  with  water  ?  Alas !  how  many  "  baptized  infi- 
dels "  are  among  us — "  the  worse  for  mending,  washed  to 
fouler  stains  I"  Secondly,  we  do  not  find  our  children 
changed  in  their  nature  by  baptism.  They  are  prone  to 
evil  as  they  grow  up,  even  as  the  children  of  others,  who 
do  not  dedicate  them  in  baptism.  But  if  baptism  was  re- 
generation, or  was  the  agent  which  effects  this  new  birth, 
baptized  children  would  show  its  effects  on  their  nature, 
by  more  holy  tempers  and  dispositions,  as  their  minds  de- 
veloped and  their  understandings  strengthened.  Yet  I 
have  not  been  able  to  perceive  any  difference,  in  this  re- 
spect, between  the  children  of  Pedobaptists  and  those  of 
Baptists  and  Quakers.  Yet  I  do  not  question  the  pro- 
priety of  infant  baptism.  I  offer  my  children  in  this  or- 
dinance, as  I  would  have  circumcised  them  had  I  been 
a  Jew,   simply  because   it   was    an    institution   of   God^ 


508  THE   NEW   BIRTH.  [SER. 

which  I  was  to  obey,  only  because  it  was  of  divine  appoint- 
ment ;  without  demanding  of  God  a  reason  for  the  require- 
ment. 

But  that  water  baptism  is  not  regeneration  is  manifest 
from  the  Scriptures.  We  find  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles one  instance  in  which  regeneration  preceded  baptism, 
and  one  where  it  certainly  did  not  accompany  it.  I  allude 
to  the  cases  of  Cornelius  the  centurion,  and  of  Simon  the 
sorceror.  Cornelius  was  directed  by  an  angel,  in  a  vision, 
to  send  for  Peter,  "who  should  tell  him  words" — teach 
Tiim  doctrines — "  whereby  he  and  all  his  house  should  be 
saved."  He  obeyed,  and  Peter  came  ;  and  as  he  preached 
the  gospel  "  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  them" — all  that  heard 
and  believed  — "  as  on  the  disciples  in  the  beginning." 
And  "  then,"  says  Peter,  "  remembered  I  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  how  that  he  said,  'John  indeed  baptized  with 
water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost.' " 
But  Peter  added  water  baptism.  "  Can  any  man,"  says  he, 
"forbid  water,  that  these  should  not  be  baptized,  which 
have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as  we  ?"  Can  any 
man  refuse  the  appointed  outward  and  visible  sign  of  that 
inward  and  spiritual  grace,  which  these  Gentile  converts 
have  so  manifestly  received  ?  Can  we  refuse  to  admit 
into  the  visible  church  those  whom  Jesus  Christ  has  so 
evidently  admitted  into  his  spiritual  church  ?  Now  it  will 
not  be  doubted,  that  they  who  had  thus  been  baptized  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  were  born  again,  born  of  God,  made  new 
creatures  in  Christ  Jesus,  by  "  the  washing  of  regenera- 
tion, and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  But  if  they  were, 
then  water  baptism  is  neither  regeneration  itself,  nor  a 
necessary  agent  in  effecting  it ;  for  Cornelius  and  his 
household  were  made  the  subject  of  the  new  birth  antece- 
dently to,  and  independently  of,  water  baptism.  In  the  case 
of  Simon  the  sorceror,  we  have  an  instance  of  water  bap- 
tism which  was  not  accompanied  by  spiritual  regeneration  ; 
for  although  he  had  "  believed,"  and  was  "  baptized,"  the 
apostle  Peter  solemnly  assured  him  he  was  "  in  the  gall  of 
bitterness,  and  the  bond  of  iniquity :"  that  he  had  "  neither 
part  nor  lot  in  the  matter" — neither  part  in  Christ,  nor  lot 
in  the  spiritual  Canaan — and  he  earnestly  exhorted  him  to 
repentance.  Is  it  not  therefore  as  clear  as  demonstration 
can  make  it  that  not  water  baptism,  but  the  baptism  of 


XXXIV.]  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  600 

the  Holy  Ghost,  effects  the  new  birth — creating  us  anew 
in  Christ  Jesus  ? 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  do  not  the  words,  "  water  and 
the  Spirit, "  in  the  text,  represent  two  agents  as  necessary 
in  the  work  of  regeneration ;  and  make  water  as  essential 
as  the  Holy  Spirit  in  effecting  the  new  birth  ?  I  hum- 
bly think  not.  First,  because  such  an  interpretation  con- 
tradicts experience  and  observation.  It  would  render 
salvation  impossible  to  all  who  have  not  been  baptized 
with  water ;  and  yet  we  have  no  evidence,  nor  well-founded 
reason,  for  supposing  that  the  apostles,  except  Paul,  were 
ever  baptized  with  water;  yet  they  were  baptized  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  their  testi- 
mony, and  their  lives  and  conversation  subsequently,  gave 
sufficient  assurance  that  they  had  all  been  "  created  anew 
in  Christ  Jesus."  Secondly,  we  have  among  us,  in  this 
our  day,  some  who  conscientiously  believe  the  ordinance 
of  baptism  is  not,  and  was  not  intended  to  be,  of  perpetual 
obligation  in  the  church,  and  therefore  do  not  submit 
themselves  to  it.  But,  among  these,  we  cannot  deny  that 
we  have  known  some,  who  not  only  testified  to  the  saving 
truths  of  Christianity,  but  who  have  shown  the  "  fruit  of 
the  Spirit"  in  their  lives  and  conversation — even  love,  joy, 
peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
and  temperance. 

Now,  these  things  being  manifest,  all  true  Christians 
would  be  loth  to  adopt  an  interpretation  of  a  declaration 
of  our  Lord  which  would  exclude  his  own  apostles,  and 
thousands  of  apparently  sincere  believers  since  their  time, 
from  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  a  fair  presumption  that 
the  interpretation  is  wrong,  when  it  leads  us  to  such  conclu- 
sion ;  and  we  are  not  shut  up  to  such  a  conclusion  by 
any  necessity.  The  words  of  our  Lord,  "water  and 
the  Spirit,"  will  bear  a  different  rendering,  and  one 
more  in  accordance  with  the  analogy  of  faith.  It  is  a 
Hebraism  —  a  Hebrew  form  of  expression  —  signifying 
spiritual  water  ;  as  if  our  Lord  had  said,  "  Except  a  man 
be  born  of  spiritual  water  he  cannot  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."  The  "teacher  come  from  God"  did  not 
mean  to  speak  of  two  agents  as  effecting  the  regeneration 
of  the  soul,  but  of  one  agent  only;  namely,  the  Holy 
Spirit.    But  he  compares  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  to  that 


510  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  [SER. 

of  water,  because,  among  natural  things,  it  was  one  of  those 
which  most  resembled  it  in  its  etfects ;  being  a  cleansing, 
purifying  agent.  In  proof  of  this  meaning  of  the  text, 
I  refer  to  another  passage  of  Scripture,  in  which  the  same 
agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  spoken  of  under  a  different 
symbol,  and  ir>  which  the  literal  interpretation  which  has 
been  contended  for,  in  respect  to  the  fifth  verse  of  the  third 
chapter  of  John,  is  impossible.  John  the  Baptist  says  of  our 
Lord,  "  I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water  unto  repentance ; 
but  he  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with 
fire."  Now  that  John  did  not  mean  that  our  Lord  would 
baptize  with  material  fire,  is  too  evident  for  cavil  or  dispute. 
He  therefore  used  a  similar  Hebraism  to  that  in  the  text, 
which  only  meant  that  our  Lord  would  baptize  his  fol- 
lowers with  "  the  fire  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  illustrating  the 
operation  of  the  Spirit  by  the  cleansing,  purifying  effect 
of  fire — "  a  refining  fire — a  purifier  of  silver." 

But  may  we  not  go  further,  and  understand  our  Lord 
as  being  so  far  from  teaching  that  water  baptism  is  a 
necessary  agent  in  regeneration,  that  he  intends  to  make 
Nicodemus  understand  its  inadequacy,  as  an  element,  to 
such  an  end;  and  that  nothing  but  spiritual  water — the 
washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
— could  effect  this  change,  so  indispensable  as  a  qualifica- 
tion for  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  We  must  remember  that 
Nicodemus  was  not  only  a  Jew,  but  a  Pharisee,  and  ''  a 
ruler  of  the  Jews" — one  of  the  seventy -two  members  of 
the  Jewish  Sanhedrim.  As  a  descendant  of  Abraham,  he 
supposed  himself  entitled  to  all  the  benefits  and  privileges 
of  the  Messiah's  kingdom  ;  which,  in  common  with  his 
countrymen,  he  supposed  was  to  be  a  temporal  kingdom, 
to  which  all  the  other  kingdoms  of  the  world  were  to  be- 
come tributary.  He  is  therefore  astonished,  when  he  is 
told  by  one  whom  he  acknowledged  to  be  "  a  teacher  come 
from  God" — though  he  does  not  seem  to  have,  as  yet,  un- 
derstood that  he  was  the  promised  Messiah — that  he  must 
undergo  a  new  birth  before  he  could  become  a  subject  of 
Messiah's  kingdom.  The  term  "born  again,"  was  not 
new  to  Nicodemus.  It  was  used  in  reference  to  every 
proselyte  from  the  Gentiles  entering  into  the  Jewish  cov- 
enant, who,  being  washed  with  water,  was  said  to  be  "  born 
again."     And  the  rabbis  carried  their  notion  so  far,  that 


XXXIV.]  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  511 

they  said  he  was  no  longer  akin  to  his  Gentile  father  or 
mother,  and  might  marrj  within  the  forbidden  degrees  of 
consanguinity  without  incest.  All  this  Nicodemus  knew,  as 
a  ruler  of  the  Jews,  and  hence  our  Lord  rebuked  him  when 
he  understood  the  term  "born  again"  literally,  and  asked, 
"  Can  a  man  be  born  again  when  he  is  old  ?"  "  Art  thou 
a  ruler  in  Israel,  and  knowest  not  these  things  ?"  answered 
the  Saviour :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee.  Except  a 
man  be  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit  he  cannot  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God."  Which  answer  may  be  thus  para- 
phrased : — 

Are  you  a  ruler  of  the  Jews,  and  do  not  know  that  a 
Gentile  convert  to  the  Mosaic  dispensation  is  washed  with 
material  water,  and  said  to  be  "  born  again  ?"  why,  then, 
do  you  understand  the  term  literally,  when  I  apply  it  to 
the  qualification  necessary  to  both  Jew  and  Gentile,  in 
order  to  enter  into  the  dispensation  of  the  Messiah — the 
kingdom  of  God?  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  that 
although  the  ceremonial  washing  with  material  water  may, 
according  to  your  customs,  entitle  a  heathen  to  circum- 
cision, the  seal  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  yet  nothing 
but  spiritual  water — the  cleansing,  purifying  efficacy  of 
the  Holy  Spirit— can  constitute  either  Jew  or  Gentile  a 
subject  of  the  new  covenant,  and  initiate  him  into  the 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  which  is  wholly  a  spiritual  king- 
dom, and  not,  as  you  imagine,  a  worldly  kingdom.  You 
do  not  understand  this ;  but  are  there  not  things  percep- 
tible by  your  senses  which  you  do  not  comprehend  ?  The 
wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither 
it  goeth  ;  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit.  If  a 
man  could  be  born  again  when  he  is  old,  in  a  natural  way, 
it  would  avail  him  nothing :  for  that  which  is  born  of  the 
flesh  is  flesh  ;  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is 
spirit.  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  bom 
again — must  be  born  of  the  Spirit  of  God — in  order  to  en- 
ter into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Eut  whether  this  paraphrase  be  admitted  or  not,  it  must 
be  clear  that  our  Lord  speaks  of  one  agent  only,  as  effect- 
ing the  new  birth  ;  and  that  the  expression  "  water  and 
the  Spirit,"  is  simply  a  Hebraism,  meaning,  literally,  spi- 
ritual water,  and  figuratively,  the  Holy  Spirit. 


512  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  [SER, 

But  still  the  question  recurs,  What  is  this  new  birth, 
without  which  no  one — however  he  may  differ  from  the 
general  character  of  his  fellow-men  in  respect  to  moral 
deportment — can  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  I  answer, 
in  the  language  of  Scripture,  it  is  "  righteousness,  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  It  is  a  work  effected  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul  of  man,  whereby  the  penitent  sin- 
ner is  enabled  to  believe  in  Christ  with  a  heart  unto 
righteousness,  that  is,  unto  justification  ;  and  by  which  he 
is  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  his  mind  :  so  that,  from  the  hour 
in  which  this  work  is  wrought  in  him,  he  is  not  only  de- 
livered from  condemnation  and  filled  with  peace  and  joy 
in  believing,  but  he  has  power  over  sin,  willingly  and  joy- 
fully walking,  yea,  running,  in  all  the  commandments  and 
ordinances  of  God :  "  If  any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus  he  is 
a  new  creature" — there  is  a  new  creation — "  old  things 
have  passed  away,  and  behold  all  things  have  become 
new."  The  understanding  has  new  views  of  the  divine 
law,  comprehending  it  in  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  its 
requirements.  The  natural  man  often  acknowledges  him- 
self a  sinner,  but  with  how  little  feeling  does  he  confess 
it!  He  speaks  of  his  sins  as  of  freckles  on  his  face. 
But  the  new  man  sees  sin  to  be  exceedingly  sinful,  and 
flies  from  it  as  from  the  face  of  a  serpent.  He  sees,  too, 
as  the  natural  man  does  not,  the  broadness  of  the  command- 
ment, which  reaches  to  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the 
heart,  as  well  as  to  overt  acts  of  transgression.  He  feels,  as 
well  as  sees,  that,  by  nature  and  practice,  man  is  altogether 
sinful.  There  is  no  spiritual  soundness.  From  the  crown 
of  the  head  to  the  sole  of  the  foot  all  is  wounds,  and  bruises, 
and  putrefying  sores,  which  have  not  been  bound  up,  nei- 
ther mollified  with  ointment.  But  he  also  comprehends  in 
his  new  state  the  fullness  and  the  freeness  of  the  redemp- 
tion which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  reaching  to  the  chief  of  sin- 
ners ;  justifying  the  penitent  who  believe  in  him,  and 
granting  supporting  and  sustaining  grace  to  all  who  walk 
by  faith,  relying  upon,  and  trusting  in,  the  promises  of  God. 
How  dark  and  incomprehensible  is  all  this  to  the  natural 
man !  How  clear  and  indubitably  true  to  the  weakest  of 
those  who  are  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit ! 

The  passions  and  affections  are  changed.  Self-love  is 
no  longer  selfishness.     The  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus 


XXXIV.]  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  5lS^ 

does  not  cease  to  seek  his  own  happiness.  He  knows  that 
God,  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  appeals  to  this  instinct  of 
his  nature,  in  all  his  promises  and  threatenings.  But  self- 
love  is  perfectly  compatible,  and  is  even  identified  with 
loving  God  with  all  his  heart,  and  his  neighbor  as  himself. 
His  happiness  is  not  lessened,  but  augmented,  by  the  hap- 
piness of  others ;  and  his  supreme  love  to  God  leads  him 
to  desire  that  all  should  love  him  and  serve  him.  Selfish- 
ness is  the  perversion  and  sinful  degeneracy  of  self-love; 
and  in  its  degeneracy  and  misapplication  it  produces  envy, 
and  malice,  and  revenge,  and  avarice,  and  unsanctified 
ambition.  Self-love,  reinstated  in  its  proper  place  in  the 
regenerated  man,  can  indulge  none  of  these  unholy  pas- 
sions. The  soul  renewed  in  the  likeness  and  image  of 
God  still  seeks  happiness ;  but  it  desires  happiness  only 
from  the  sense  of  the  divine  favor :  and  in  this  there  is  no 
room  for  envy,  or  malice,  or  revenge,  or  jealousy.  "  There 
is  enough  for  all,  enough  for  each,  enough  for  evermore." 
Among  the  people  of  the  world,  the  poor  envy  the  rich ; 
and  the  rich  envy  those  who  are  still  richer ;  or  who  are 
elevated  higher  by  place,  or  worldly  distinctions,  than 
themselves.  But  no  spiritual  man  ever  envied  the  condi- 
tion of  a  brother  who  was  holier,  and  consequently  happier, 
than  himself  On  the  contrary,  he  loves  his  neighbor 
just  in  proportion  as  the  image  and  superscription  of  his 
Lord  is  perceived — stands  out  in  relief  in  his  walk  and 
conversation.  It  will  be  so  in  heaven.  In  the  kingdom 
of  our  Father  above  we  shall  differ,  as  one  star  differeth 
from  another  star  in  glory.  But  as  we  envy  not  the  holi- 
ness of  a  brother  here,  but  love  him  exactly  in  proportion 
to  our  estimate  of  his  holiness,  so  we  shall  love  those  in 
heaven,  who  outshine  us,  and  stand  nearer  the  throne  than 
we  do.  But  it  would  occupy  too  much  of  the  time  allotted 
to  me  to  enlarge  on  this  topic.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  in 
the  regenerated  soul  no  human  passion  is  destroyed;  but 
all  are  converted,  and  sanctified  to  the  great  end  of  man's 
being — "  to  glorify  God  in  his  body  and  spirit  which  are 
his." 

The  new  birth  effects  an  entire  spiritual  change.     All 
the  affections  of  the  soul  are  brought  under  the  influence 
of  new  motives  and  principles.     Hope,  fear,  desire,  aver- 
sion, and  all  the  other  affections,  still  remain,  but  they  are 
22* 


514  THE   NEW   BIRTH.  [SER. 

directed  to  new  objects  and  sanctified  to  new  purposes. 
The  hopes  which  clung  to  earthly  objects  are  now  trans- 
ferred to  heavenly  things.  "  Hope  constitutes  the  chief 
blessing  of  life  ;  and  that  hope  only  is  rational  of  which  we 
are  sure  it  cannot  deceive  us."  Such,  only,  is  the  hope 
which  rests  upon  the  immutable  promises  of  God.  Fear 
no  longer  hath  torment ;  for  the  fear  of  man  is  taken  away, 
and  the  renewed  soul  fears  only  Him  who  can  cast  both 
soul  and  body  into  hell.  But  this  fear  is  mixed  with  a 
sure  trust  and  confidence  in  his  mercy,  through  the  pro- 
pitiation offered  on  Calvary,  and  the  advocacy  of  Him 
who  "  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us."  So  that 
there  is  no  longer  anything  painful  in  the  emotion ;  but 
only  a  filial  fear  of  offending  a  Father  who  hath  assured 
us  he  loves  his  children  better  than  earthly  parents  love 
their  offspring.  And  then,  as  to  the  fear  of  affliction,  or 
other  changes  in  outward  circumstances,  it  only  begets 
proper  precaution  and  diligence.  It  can  produce  no  dis- 
turbance in  the  soul  which  implicitly  relies  upon  the  pro- 
mise, "  All  things  shall  work  together  for  good  to  them 
which  love  God."  No  matter  what  the  worldly  disaster 
which  is  apprehended  may  be,  it  is  comprehended  in  the 
"  all  things"  inventory,  and  is  provided  for  in  the  promise. 
But  we  need  not  enlarge.  All  the  other  affections  of  the 
soul,  like  hope  and  fear,  are  brought  under  religious  in- 
fluence— into  obedience  to  Christ ;  and,  instead  of  being 
auxiliaries  to  sin,  become  tributaries  to  religion. 

Thus  the  new  birth  is  a  radical,  total  change  in  the  whole 
man,  effected  by  supernatural  agency.  Not  an  outward 
change  of  behavior  only,  which  may  be,  and  often  is,  pro- 
duced by  prudential,  worldly,  and  even  mercenary  motives, 
but  an  inward,  spiritual  renovation  of  the  soul,  renewing 
it  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  even  righteousness 
and  true  holiness,  in  which  our  first  parent  was  created, 
and  which  he  lost  by  disobedience. 

H.  But  if  this  be  the  Scriptural  view  of  regeneration, 
and  if  this  new  birth  be  an  indispensable  qualification  for 
membership  in  Christ's  spiritual  church  on  earth,  and  for 
entrance  into  heaven,  what  are  the  eyidexces  of  the 
change?  Hoav  is  a  man  to  assure  himself  that  this  spiritual 
change  has  passed  upon  him  ? 

As  in  describing  the  new  birth  we  have  induced  in  no 


XXXIV.]  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  515 

metaphysical  speculation,  but  kept  close  to  the  Scriptures, 
so,  in  stating  the  evidences  which  may  be  relied  upon  in 
judging  of  our  own  religious  state,  we  may  not  go  a  hair's 
breadth  beyond  the  directions  given  in  the  book  of  reve- 
lation, nor  stop  short  of  what  it  affirms. 

Among  the  faculties  of  the  soul  there  is  one  which,  by 
common  consent,  we  call  consciousness,  and  which  sub- 
serves to  the  soul  the  functions  which  are  performed  by 
the  outward  senses  to  the  body.  Hence  every  transition 
from  mental  pain  to  pleasure,  and  from  pleasure  to  pain, 
is  recognized  by  our  consciousness — we  say  we  are  con- 
scious of  such  and  such  mental  perceptions  and  feelings. 
Now  by  the  authority  of  Scripture  we  assert,  that  the  first, 
in  order  of  time,  of  the  evidences  of  the  change  called  the 
new  birth,  is  the  direct  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  testify- 
ing to  the  believer's  consciousness  that  his  sins  are  for- 
given, and  that  he  is  a  child  of  God  by  adoption — the  free, 
unmerited  grace  of  God,  through  the  atonement  which  is 
in  Christ,  and  simple  faith  —  trust,  reliance,  upon  the 
promises  of  God  made  to  penitent  sinners  through  this 
atonement.  The  sinner  convicted  of  sin  by  the  word  and 
Spirit  of  God,  earnestly  inquires  the  way  of  salvation.  He 
learns  that  it  is  to  be  obtained  only  by  "  repentance  toward 
God,  and  faith  toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  also."  He 
learns  tliat  it  is  only  by  grace  communicated  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  that  he  can  comply  with  these  conditions  ;  but  he 
learns,  too,  that  "  our  heavenly  Father  giveth  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him ;"  and  betaking  himself  to 
prayer — breaking  off  his  sins  by  repentance,  and  turning 
with  "  full  purpose  of  heart  unto  God,"  lie  is  enabled  to 
cast  himself  upon  Jesus  as  his  Saviour  and  Mediator ;  and 
his  faith  is  counted  to  him  for  righteousness.  And  now 
the  Holy  Spirit  testifies  to  his  consciousness  of  this  par- 
don. He  receives  "not  the  Spirit  of  bondage  again  to 
fear,  but  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  he  cries,  Abba, 
Father;  and  the  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  his 
spirit  that  he  is  a  child  of  God."  See  Eom.  viii,  15,  16. 
The  immediate  first-fruits  of  this  witness  of  the  Spirit  are 
"  love,  joy,  and  peace ;"  and  there  follow,  "  long-suffering, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith" — an  abiding  trust  in  the  pro- 
mises of  God — "  meekness,  and  temperance  :  against  such 
there  is  no  law."  See  Gal.  v,  22,  23.    And,  therefore,  there 


516  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  [SER. 

can  be  no  transgression  nor  condemnation  while  these  abide 
in  the  heart  and  life  of  the  beUever. 

How  is  it,  then,  that  some  contend  that  the  only  evidence 
of  this  new  birth,  and  this  adoption,  is  inferential — that  is, 
derived  from  the  manifestation  of  its  fruits  ?  Thus  they 
state  it  in  the  form  of  a  syllogism.  "  He  who  bears  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  is  born  of  the  Spirit ;  but  I  bear  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit ;  therefore  I  am  born  of  the  Spirit." 
It  is  contended  that  thus  only  we  can  infer  that  we  have 
been  "born  again."  Now  we  deny  not,  that  he  who  is 
born  of  the  Spirit  will  bear  its  fruits  ;  on  the  contrary,  we 
contend  with  the  apostle  John  that  he  who  is  born  of 
God  doth  not  commit  sin — doth  not  willingly  transgress 
any  known  law  of  God ;  and  that  such  a  one,  in  order  to 
preserve  his  justification,  must  steadily  endeavor  to  "  per- 
fect holiness  in  the  fear  of  God ;"  and  a  consciousness  of 
sincerity  in  this  respect,  is  the  testimony  of  his  own  spirit, 
reason,  or  judgment,  that  he  is  a  child  of  God.  All  that 
we  contend  for  is,  that  this  inferential  evidence  from  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  cannot  be  had,  or  enjoyed,  until  these 
fruits  appear ;  and  that  they  cannot  appear,  nay,  cannot 
exist,  until,  by  some  previous  witness,  the  penitent  sinner  is 
assured  of  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins,  and  the  revocation 
of  the  sentence  of  eternal  death  which  he  had  incurred  by 
transgression ;  and  that  this  previous  assurance  is  given 
by  the  direct  testimony — this  "bearing  witness" — of  the 
Holy  vSpirit,  of  which  the  apostle  speaks. 

The  position,  that  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  must  appear, 
must  be  enjoyed,  before  anything  can  be  inferred  from 
them,  will  not  be  denied ;  but  the  apostle  places  as  first  in 
order  of  time,  the  emotions  of  "  love,  joy,  and  peace,"  as 
such  fruits.  Now  can  the  guilty,  condemned  sinner,  bur- 
dened with  a  deep  conviction  of  his  guilt,  and  trembling 
under  the  fearful  apprehension  of  the  penalty  due  to  his 
transgressions,  have  love,  joy,  and  peace,  until  he  is  as- 
sured of  forgiveness  ?  The  apostle  speaks  of  filial  love, 
the  fruit  of  adoption.  Must  there  not  be  an  assurance  of 
adoption  before  this  love  can  be  felt  ?  He  speaks  of  joy 
and  peace  arising  from  a  sense  of  pardon  and  reconcilia- 
tion ;  but  can  these  emotions  obtain  until  there  is  an  assur- 
ance of  pardon  and  reconciliation  ?  Surely  not.  A  man 
under  sentence  of  death  for  a  violation  of  the  law  of  his 


XXXIV.]  THE   NEW  BIRTH.  517 

country,  does  not  manifest  these  emotions,  until  he  is  as- 
sured of  a  pardon  from  the  governor.  He  may  hope  that 
his  pardon  is  ah'eady  made  out  in  the  council  chamber,  but 
he  is  filled  with  anxiety,  and  fearful  apprehensions,  until 
he  receives  it,  and  is  assured  his  hope  has  not  deceived 
him.  Until  there  is  assurance,  the  idea  of  peace  and  joy 
is  to  the  utmost  degree  preposterous  and  absurd.  And 
so  it  is  with  the  sinner,  until  he  is  assured  he  has  "  passed 
from  death  unto  life."  He  cannot  have  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  "  love,  joy,  and  peace,"  until  he  is  justified  by  faith 
in  the  atonement ;  and  this  justification  is  testified  to  his 
consciousness  by  the  direct  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It 
is,  therefore,  evident  that  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  in  the  work  of  justification  and  adoption,  must  neces- 
sarily precede  the  testimony  of  our  own  spirit — the  infer- 
ential evidence  from  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  The  latter 
cannot  exist  without  the  former. 

The  truth  is,  that  it  is  this  supernatural  agency,  pro- 
mised in  the  Scriptures,  which  chiefly  distinguishes  the 
Christian  religion  from  all  other  religions.  This  is  the 
very  point  of  departure  between  Christianity  and  all  the 
schemes  of  religion  which  have  been  invented  by  man. 
These  schemes  may  be  considered  under  two  general  divi- 
sions— paganism  and  natural  religion,  or  deism.  Paganism, 
perceiving  the  universal  depravity  of  man,  and  being  igno- 
rant of  any  remedy,  tolerated  what  it  could  not  cure,  and  al- 
lowed, nay  imbodied,  even  in  its  religious  services,  the  vilest 
indulgences  of  passion  and  appetite ;  incorporating  them 
into  its  most  sacred  mysteries.  The  whole  system  was  in- 
consistent with  the  holiness  of  God.  Natural  religion,  a 
modern  invention,  enlightened  by  the  revelation  it  affects 
to  reject,  has  a  more  just  conception  of  the  divine  nature 
and  attributes,  and  prescribes  a  more  pure  and  perfect 
rule  of  life.  But  it  requires  an  impossibility.  It  would 
exact  of  man  in  his  fallen,  degenerate,  and  corrupt  nature, 
obedience  to  a  perfect  rule  of  life.  It  is  the  Egyptian, 
requiring  the  full  tale  of  brick  without  the  straw.  It  is 
wholly  unadapted  to  the  universal  condition  of  man. 
Christianity  alone  proposes  a  scheme  of  salvation,  at  once 
consistent  with  the  divine  holiness,  and  suited  to  the  state 
of  man  in  his  sinfulness  and  helplessness.  It  offers  super- 
natural aid.     It  proposes  by  the  agency  of  the  Spirit  of 


518  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  [SER. 

God,  procured  simply  for  the  asking,  to  renew  the  soul, 
and  strengthen  it  by  all  might  and  power  in  the  inner  man, 
to  walk  in  the  statutes  and  commandments  of  God  blame- 
less. It  proposes  to  "  make  the  tree  good,  that  the  fruit 
may  be  good  also." 

And  why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  that 
God  should  thus  renovate  and  renew  man's  spirit  ?  Is  not 
all  nature  full  of  such  marvelous  works  of  God  ?  Can  any 
philosopher  comprehend  the  phenomena  of  the  first  any 
more  than  of  the  second  birth  ?  And  are  not  the  most  un- 
accountable, inscrutable  transformations,  continually  going 
on,  even  in  the  lowest  orders  of  life  ?  Of  the  myriads  of  but- 
terflies Avhich  sport  over  yonder  lawn,  every  one  was  but 
lately  a  loathsome  caterpillar.  Have  you  ever  seen  a 
dragon-fly  ?  have  you  ever  admired  the  exquisite  mechan- 
ism of  its  double  wings,  the  beauty  of  its  varied  colorings, 
and  the  lustre  of  its  irradiations  ?  That  beautiful  fly  Avas 
lately  a  worm,  a  grub,  inhabiting  a  dunghill,  and  deriving 
its  nutriment  from  the  vilest  ordure.  But  it  entered  into  its 
crysalis  state  ;  and  then  appeared  to  be  dead.  Its  covering 
M^as  hard  and  incrusted  all  about  to  the  feeling.  But 
within  was  a  germ  of  the  old  nature,  going  through  the 
transforming  process  of  a  new  birth;  and  now  it  has 
emerged  into  a  new  existence.  Disdaining  its  former 
dark  and  filthy  habitation,  it  soars  aloft,  and  sports  in  the 
sunbeams.  Loathing  its  former  food,  it  now  sips  the  dew 
of  heaven,  and  feeds  upon  the  nectar  of  flowers.  So  the 
regenerated  soul :  "  If  any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus  he  is 
a  new  creature" — there  is  a  new  creation — "  old  things  are 
passed  away,  and  behold  all  things  have  become  new." 

III.  The  necessity  for  the  new  birth.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  prove  this,  otherwise  than  by  adverting  to  the 
authority  of  Him  who  has  declared  its  indispensable  ne- 
cessity as  a  qualification  for  his  kingdom  ;  whether  in  its 
preparatory  stage  on  earth,  or  the  consummation  of  its 
glory  in  heaven.  But  remember,  this  "  teacher  come  from 
God  " — "  the  brightness  of  his  Father's  glory  and  the  ex- 
press image  of  his  person" — does  not  saj.  Except  a  man  be 
born  again,  he  our/ht  not  to  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  This 
might  have  allowed  the  supposition  that,  nevertheless,  it 
was  possible.  Nor  does  he  say  he  shall  not,  as  if  it  were 
forbidden  only  by  absolute  decree.     But  he  says  "  he  can- 


XXXIV.]  THE   NEW  BIRTH.  ^1^ 

not  "-^he  has  no  fitness.  Heaven  is  a  holy  place,  and  its 
society  is  holy.  Nothing  unclean,  nothing  imj^ure,  can 
enter  there.  And  again,  he  cannot,  because  he  has  no 
title  to  it.  The  heirship  depends  upon  the  adoption.  "  If 
children,  then  heirs ;  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with 
Jesus  Christ."  Surely  nothing  can  be  more  futile,  more 
utterly  absurd,  than  to  substitute  any  other  condition  of 
salvation,  any  other  hope  of  heaven,  than  the  one  condi- 
tion, the  one  hope,  which  the  rightful  Sovereign  of  heaven 
and  of  earth  proposes  in  the  gospel.  Let  us  make  haste 
to  secure  the  possession  of  this  passport  to  eternal  life  and 
glory. 

To  do  this  we  must  not  only  give  no  ear  to  the  systems 
of  religion  which  are  the  inventions  of  men — to  paganism, 
which  is  inconsistent  with  the  holiness  of  God ;  and  natural 
religion,  or  Deism,  which  is  not  adapted  to  the  condition 
of  human  nature  in  its  fallen  state ;  making  no  provision 
for  our  weakness,  our  utter  helplessness,  under  the  tyranny 
of  sin  and  Satan ;  offers  no  supernatural  aid,  no  means  of 
deliverance  from  our  natural  corruption  and  depravity : — 
we  must  not  only  abandon  all  hope  in  these  utterly  false 
systems,  but  we  must  equally  renounce  and  repudiate 
adulterated  systems  of  Christianity,  consisting  of  some  of 
the  elements  of  the  gospel,  rendered  nugatory  by  foreign 
admixture — human  interpolations  which  destroy  the  life 
and  power  of  gospel  truth. 

Among  these  monstrous  hybrids  we  may  mention  Ro- 
manism, with  its  priestly  absolution ;  its  doctrine  of  pen- 
ance, in  which  it  is  taught  that  a  sinner  may  make  satis- 
faction to  God  for  his  sins,  by  voluntary  corporeal  suffer- 
ing, and  giving  alms ;  its  transubstantiation  and  worship 
of  the  consecrated  wafer ;  its  mass,  in  which  it  is  pre- 
tended that  the  offering  of  Christ  is  reiterated,  as  a  true 
and  proper  sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead ;  and  its 
purgatory,  in  which  fire  is  substituted  for  the  blood  of 
Christ,  which  alone  cleanses  from  all  sin.  Puseyisra,  com- 
mitting all  the  blessings  and  benefits  of  the  gospel  to  a 
corporation  of  bishops,  so  that  no  one  can  have  any  inter- 
est in  Christ,  or  derive  any  benefit  from  his  atonement, 
but  by  their  leave,  and  by  submission  to  their  require- 
ments, however  contrary  to  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel ; 
its   baptismal    regeneration,    borrowed    from    Rome;    its 


520  THE  NEW  BIRTH.  [SER. 

"  priestly  intervention"  in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's 
supper,  as  expressed  by  a  bishop  in  our  own  country, 
"that  sins  may  be  forgiven;"  all,  whether  Romanist  or 
Puseyite,  making  "void  the  law  of  God  through  their 
traditions,"  and  "  teaching  for  doctrine  the  commandments 
of  men." 

Nor  these  alone.  There  are  other  interpolations  of  the 
gospel,  equally  dangerous.  The  Socinians,  with  their 
salvation  without  an  adequate  saviour  ;  their  pardon  with- 
out atonement ;  and  their  human  compliance  with  the 
divine  requirements,  without  regeneration,  or  supernatural 
change  in  man's  nature  by  the  renovating  and  renewing 
agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  These  make  Christ  a  man, 
not  God,  "by  whom"  and  "for  whom  all  things  were 
made."  They  teach  that  Christ  died  as  a  martyr,  not  as  a 
sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  world ;  his  death  they  say  was 
testamentary,  not  vicarious  :  denying,  or  perverting  by  ver- 
bal criticisms,  the  whole  tenor  and  the  plainest  declarations 
of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament  concerning  Christ. 
And  the  Universalists,  with  their  scheme  for  saving  men 
171  their  sms,  not  from  their  sins.  IL;  who  would  be  saved 
must  fly  from  all  these  systems — Romanism,  Puseyism, 
Socinianism,  commonly  called  Unitarianism,  and  Univer- 
salism,  as  from  the  face  of  a  serpent.  They  are  one  and 
all,  simply  human  schemes  to  get  to  heaven  without  holi- 
ness. God  has  devised,  and  executed,  and  clearly  revealed, 
his  plan  of  human  salvation.  He  declares,  "  Except  a 
man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
And  as  this  can  only  be  eiFected  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
"he  giveth  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him."  In 
answer  to  prayer  offered  through  the  Mediator  who  hath 
entered  once  for  all  into  the  holy  of  holies,  that  is,  into 
heaven,  for  us,  he  gives  the  grace  of  repentance  and  faith, 
followed  by  pardon,  regeneration,  holiness,  and  heaven. 
Let  no  man  beguile  you  with  philosophy  and  vain  deceit. 
"  In  him" — in  Christ  our  Lord — "  dwelt  the  fullness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily."  That  is  substantially,  not  figuratively, 
as  the  shechinah  between  the  cherubim,  in  the  holy  of 
holies.  Not  influentially,  as  in  all  good  men  ;  but  sub- 
stantially, really,  without  any  figure  of  speech  at  all.  "  He 
is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins."  "  He  bare  our  sins  in 
his  own  body  on  the  tree."     He  is  our  Mediator  before 


XXXIV.]  THE   NEW  BIRTH.  521 

the  throne  of  the  heavenly  grace :  "  He  ever  liveth  to 
make  intercession  for  us."  And  the  promise  is  reiterated 
throughout  the  revelation  of  God,  that  all,  even  the  chief 
of  sinners,  may  come  to  the  Father  through  him,  not  only 
with  hope,  but  with  assurance  of  acceptance  ;  and  all  this 
without  the  intervention  of  a  human  priest,  or  money,  or 
price.  Thanks  be  unto  God  for  this  unspeakable  gift; 
this  present,  free,  and  full  salvation. 

Dr.  Pusey,  in  his  Letter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, complains  of  the  Wesleyans  that  they  teach  the  peo- 
ple to  expect  an  assurance  of  pardon  and  regeneration 
through  the  "  direct  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  in  the 
commencement  of  the  Christian  race,  and  as  a  preparation 
for  the  race ;  whereas  he  says  it  is  only  given  at  the  end 
of  the  race,  as  a  reward.  Now  neither  the  Wesleyans  in 
England,  nor  in  this  country,  can  deny  this  charge.  On 
the  contrary,  we  confess  it,  and  glory  in  the  truth  of  it. 
We  testify  to  all  men,  that  this  "  direct  witness  of  the  Holy 
Spirit"  of  pardon,  acceptance  in  Christ,  and  of  regenerating 
grace,  is  the  common  privilege  of  all  penitent  sinners. 
They  have  a  Scriptural  right  to  look  for  it,  and  claim  it  as 
conferred  by  the  divine  charter  of  salvation :  to  expect  it 
through  faith  alone,  as  a  preparation  for  the  race  they  are 
called  upon  to  run,  the  prize  of  which  is  "  everlasting  life." 
The  book  of  God  affirms  it ;  and  a  cloud  of  witnesses  con- 
firm it  by  their  experience,  and  by  the  fruits  of  it  in  their 
lives  and  conversation.  God  grant  we  may  never  depart 
from  the  testimony  of  our  fathers.  To  him  be  glory  in  the 
church  by  Christ  Jesus  throughout  all  ages,  world  without 
end.     Amen. 


THE   END.